


Sawada Tsunayoshi and His Seven Guardians

by WendyMcTorry



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Adventure, Confusion, F/M, Fluff, Long, My Characters Affect on the Original Story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-10
Updated: 2016-04-10
Packaged: 2018-06-01 12:10:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 29,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6518782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WendyMcTorry/pseuds/WendyMcTorry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So, I love KHR! It's literally my favourite anime, of all time, and that's a tough decision to make! I've always loved inserting my own characters into series like this, so the main plot is already thought out for me, and I can focus on my favourite part of stories: romance. In this book, there's a seventh guardian, the Guardian of Snow. And she falls for Gokudera, and it's about them attempting to handle their relationship while being in the mafia. The actual storyline is the same as the KHR anime, just with my own character to make Gokudera-kun happy <3 </p><p>I'm sorry it's so long, but I'm sure you'll love if if you're an avid reader!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sawada Tsunayoshi and His Seven Guardians

My name is Kenzie. I'm a second year middle school student, fourteen years old. Which happens to be around the same age as the real protagonists. I'm honestly pretty useless. I get slightly above average grades, I have the best family in the world (no bias or anything), but other than that, I'm pretty average. Oh, I forgot to mention one more exception. I'm a Mafioso. 

I know it sounds kinda weird, but I'm not the only one around my age in the mafia. I really have my parents to thank for choosing to live in Namimori. When I entered middle school, I met lots of new people. The funniest person in my class was Sawada Tsunayoshi. I feel sorry for him, though. Nobody should have to endure what he has to. The poor kid is always being teased for his grades and clumsiness. But I actually like it. I'm generally afraid of boys… okay, maybe nervous is a better way to put it… unconfident, whatever. I just can't talk normally and can't force myself to even try to talk to boys. But Tsuna is different. We're always partners for school projects, and I've helped him increase his grades with all our school assignments. 

Yamamoto Takeshi is our school's star baseball player. Too popular for me to even consider talking to, but he and Tsuna have the odd chat. I'm friends with Kurokawa Hana and Sasagawa Kyoko. They're really nice girls, when Hana isn't dissing all of us for acting too childish. 

Things were going normally until we had a transfer student. He had greyish-white hair, more beautiful than I'd ever seen. He had a really mad look on his face and was staring daggers at Tsuna. I wondered if they knew each other, but Tsuna was too scared to notice me trying to ask him. I was right behind Tsuna and the new kid came and sat right beside Tsuna, and diagonally up from me. 

"Alright, everyone, let's welcome Gokudera Hayato." Our teacher finished. Then, he began the lesson. I went with Hana and Kyoko to eat lunch on the roof, but they had a student council meeting so they ducked out early. I was heading to the library to finish homework before class when I heard an explosion. 

"Die!" I heard someone scream right before four more simultaneous explosions. I looked over the roof to see Tsuna and the new kid, Gokudera. Tsuna was running like a mad man trying to dodge the bombs Gokudera was throwing at him. 

Tsuna kept dodging and dodging. He was calling for help. Then, Yamamoto showed up. Tsuna was trying to extinguish the bombs, but Yamamoto clearly didn't realize they were real. I was going to go get the principal when I heard a gun shot and Tsuna's scream. 

"REBORN!" He shouted. I looked over the edge again and his hair was glowing orange and he was in his boxers. Tsuna managed to extinguish all the bombs just in time for Gokudera to light more. Tsuna was extinguishing them faster than I could run. And Gokudera seemed to be lighting them at will, not with a cigarette lighter or anything. A bomb dropped at Gokudera's feet, and that was the end. 

Or so I thought. Tsuna still managed to reach the bomb at Gokudera's feet before it went off. Gokudera's mood completely changed. He went from throwing dynamite at Tsuna to worshiping him and bowing down to him.

"You're a really interesting guy, Tsuna! Let me into the group, too!" Yamoto put his arm around Tsuna and laughed. 

"Hey, you!" Gokudea growled. "Don't get so friendly with the Tenth!" 

I sighed in relief. There were no more bombs going off, and I didn't have to call the police or anything. Nobody got hurt. Phew. 

But I was so curious. I had to know what the meaning behind all of this was. When I went back to class, Gokudera was smiling and chatting with Tsuna like he hadn't tried to kill him half an hour ago. He seemed a lot more approachable. So, that day after school, I caught up to the three boys at the lockers. 

"Um, hi." I smiled and waved at Tsuna. 

"Oh, hey, Kenzie-san." Tsuna smiled and waved back. 

"I'm, uh, not sure if you guys want anyone else to hear this, but I want to talk about lunch today. I saw all the explosions and everything. 

The next thing I knew, I was pinned up against the wall by Gokudera. 

"Gokudera-kun, you don't need to do that!" 

"Of course I do!" He yelled back at Tsuna. Then he turned back to me. "What do you know about the Vongola and the Tenth!?" 

I was shocked. How could he go from nasty to nice to nasty so quick? 

"N--nothing… I was going to ask you guys about what happened… all I know was what I saw, I didn't really hear anything…" I almost started shaking under pressure. 

"Well, if you didn't hear anything, fine." Gokudera let me go and walked away. 

"I'm so sorry about him, Kenzie-san! Are you okay?" 

"Yeah, I'm fine." I lied. I was pretty shaken up. And scared. "I'll see you in class." 

I freaked out and ran away. 

"Gokudera-kun, you have to apologize tomorrow." Tsuna scolded him. 

"Eh!?" Gokudera began, but then he reluctantly complied. "I--if you say so, Tenth…" 

The next day at school, Kyoko and Hana went to a student council meeting halfway through lunch again, and I was about to leave for the library when Gokudera showed up on the roof. 

"Yo, uh--" Was all he managed to say before I jumped back and screamed. I was half startled and half afraid of him. "I--I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you… uh" 

It took me a minute to process what he was saying, and even longer to realize he was trying to remember my name. 

"K--kenzie." I managed to say. 

"R--right. I'm sorry about yesterday, Kenzie. But this isn't some kids' game like Yamamoto thinks it is. It's life or death, so we can't give out any details. Sorry." 

"Life or death? Isn't that something you should tell people about? Get adults to help?" 

"Tsch." Gokudera scoffed. "It's the adults we're fighting." 

"Gokudera-kun." I said softly. He flinched. "Please take care of Tsuna… and Yamamoto." 

"Of course I will!" Gokudera smiled with confidence. "I'm his right hand man!" 

Somehow, I trusted that. I trusted him. With just a few sentences, I went from afraid of him to having faith in him. 

Soon enough, lunch was over and we went back to class. 

"Yo, Tsuna! Are we playing mafia after school again today?" Yamamoto laughed. 

Gokudera looked about ready to knock him unconscious. Tsuna was literally praying I hadn't heard. So I pretended not to and went back to reading my book. 

"But this isn't some kids' game like Yamamoto thinks it is." I remembered Gokudera saying. I thought there was no way it could be real. Fourteen year olds in the mafia? You've got to be kidding me. But I trusted Gokudera, and if he said it was real, I was going to believe him. Unfortunately, the more I heard by accident about this, the more curious I became. But I held myself back. If there was anything I needed to know, somehow I would overhear it, or would be told it. 

The weeks passed by. I had watched Tsuna have a flame burst from his forehead and fight in his boxers. A little baby in a suit was shooting him. But to me, he didn't seem like an ordinary baby. He knew I was there. I could tell. But he didn't do anything. Obviously, it meant I was okay to watch. 

I saw Tsuna beat Ryohei, a senior. Things seemed to be going his way, and I wasn't as worried, seeing both his and Gokudera's power. I didn't know what Yamamoto could do, yet, but if he got hold of a bat, it would be the end of his enemy. 

Things changed one day. Students from the disciplinary committee were being attacked. The more time passed, the less students were at school. One day, only Gokudera had shown up. No Tsuna or Yamamoto, and that really worried me. I caught up to him just before he was going to skip class. 

"Gokudera-kun!" I exclaimed. 

"Kenzie? What is it?" 

"Where are Tsuna and Yamamoto? Are they alright?" 

"I don't know where they are, but I'm sure they're alright. It's the Tenth and the baseball idiot, nothing could happen to either of them." 

"But so many people from our school are being targeted! Don't you think you three could be, too?" 

"If it's a bunch of bullies, the Tenth and Yamamoto can handle it." Gokudera insisted. I wasn't giving up, so he sighed, and reluctantly gave in. "Alright, you can come look for them with me." 

"Really!? Thank you!" I smiled. We headed out into town to look for them. We didn't see either of them anywhere. Who we did see was not nearly as pleasant. 

"Gokudera Hayato." A strange boy in a green school uniform with a hat and classes said. He had an ominous aura and I could sense the bloodlust as much as Gokudera could. 

"Yeah, that's me. I don't like your tone. What do you want?" 

The boy didn't answer. He just swung a yoyo. 

"Kenzie!" Gokudera exclaimed as he jumped in front of me. The next thing I knew, he was bleeding. "Run!" 

"B--but--"

"Run, you idiot!" He exclaimed. I knew exactly where I was running. There were only two men I could trust to help Gokudera. The first place I tried was the hospital, remembering Tsuna was saying he was going to visit a friend there. I bumped into him, literally, on the way there. 

"Tsuna! Hurry, it's Gokudera-kun, he's hurt!" 

Tsuna was shocked. 

"Where!?" Tsuna exclaimed. The three of us, including Reborn, ran to Gokudera's side. We found him bloody on the ground. The attacker was going to attack him again, but he was even bloodier than Gokudera was. 

"No!" I exclaimed and extended one of my hands. Ice suddenly came from them and froze the boy solid. I hadn't even realized because I was so worried about Gokudera. "Gokudera-kun, are you alright?" 

He was in shock. So were Tsuna and Reborn. 

"I--I'm okay… how did you do that?" Gokudera asked. 

"Do what?" I wondered. I looked around to see what was different, and was equally as shocked to see the boy in ice. "What happened to him!?" 

"You mean you didn't do that intentionally?" Reborn asked. 

"I did that!?" I exclaimed in disbelief. 

"Yeah, you did." Gokudera said, standing up. But he unfortunately couldn't stand for long. 

"Gokudera-kun!" I exclaimed as I caught him. "We've got to get you to the hospital, now!" 

That was when Yamamoto showed up. 

"Hey, what happened here?" He asked with the most serious face I've ever seen on him. 

"Yamamoto!" I smiled in relief. "You're okay." 

"Yeah, how is Gokudera?" 

"We'll have a doctor look at him, but it seems pretty bad to me." I sighed. Yamamoto came on the other side of Gokudera and helped me carry him. We went to the hospital from there. 

"Sorry, I don't treat men." The doctor said. I just glared at him, this was serious, and he shouldn't be acting like a jerk. But… from the sound of things, I had to do some persuading. 

"Please, doctor, can you help him? I'd really, really appreciate it.." I smiled and winked at him. 

"Of course, right this way." The doctor ushered us into the room. 

"Shamal… you ass…" Gokudera muttered under his breath. I was embarrassed that Gokudera saw me flirt, and he was clearly mad at the doctor for reducing me to that. 

I sat by his bedside even when the treatment was done. I knew Yamamoto, Reborn, and Tsuna were talking about this mafia thing in the hall, and Gokudera made it clear I was supposed to stay out of it. When Gokudera finally woke up, he only had one thing on his mind. Me. 

"W--what happened there? How did you freeze him?" Gokudera asked. 

"I--I don't know… I was trying to reach you and pull you out of the way, but I ended up freezing him. I don't know what happened or how."

"That's super weird to not know how you bloody froze someone!" Gokudera exclaimed. I just laughed. I was happy to see he was getting back to his normal self. "What's so funny?" 

"You." I continued to laugh. "You're getting better, Gokudera-kun. I'm glad we were able to get you to the hospital soon enough." 

Gokudera lied back down and pretended not to be blushing like he was. 

"How are you feeling?" I asked. 

"A lot better, thanks to that disgusting Shamal." Gokudera laughed. "I can't believe him." 

"It's fine, Gokudera-kun…" I blushed and looked away. "It's not like anything happened, I just winked at him. A small price to pay for him helping you." 

"S--still, you shouldn't have had to. You should stay away from him, he's a major perv if you hadn't noticed already." 

"Oh, I did." I glared at Shamal, who was treating another patient in the room. "So… who was that? Why did he attack you?" 

"I wouldn't tell you even if I knew. You shouldn't be involved in these kinds of things. I don't want you to get hurt." 

That was when Reborn and the others walked in. 

"She's involved. She has to be. Nobody has those kinds of powers for no reason." Reborn said. "Gokudera, Tsuna. Time to explain." 

"Really, Reborn-san!? Are you sure!?" 

"I'm positive. You'll see why soon enough." Reborn said. "Well, what are you waiting for?" 

Gokudera sighed before beginning. "The Tenth is this generations boss of the Vongola, a mafia family. Yamamoto, Ryohei, and I are all his subordinates. I'm his right-hand man, too. We were most likely targeted because we are Mafioso. We don't know what family that guy was from. But we're going to find out. Right, Tenth?" 

"R--right." Tsuna agreed. "I--I know it's hard to believe, Kenzie-san, but it's true." 

"I believe you guys." I said. It was true, I really did trust and believe them. "So… am I part of the family too, now?" 

"Yeah!" Reborn smiled. "Welcome to the Vongola Family, Kenzie." 

"Thanks." I chuckled. 

"We're going to Kokuyo Land. That's where they should be hiding. We'll need your ice powers, Kenzie." Reborn said. 

"No!" Tsuna and Gokudera exclaimed togther. 

"You agree, Gokudera-kun?" Tsuna asked. 

"Of course I do. It's too dangerous." Gokudera crossed his arms. He didn't look like he was going to budge. 

"She's got to come. She's in the family. We'll need Kenzie's ice powers." Reborn said. 

"Kenzie doesn't know how to use them, yet. It's too dangerous." Tsuna objected. 

"I can do it. When the going gets tough, I know I can do it. I'm coming." I agreed with Reborn. 

"Freeze me. If you can freeze me, you can come." Gokudera said. He wasn't about to let me sign my own death warrant. 

"I'll do something even better." I smiled and extended my arm into the air. It started snowing in the room. Gokudera was impressed, but Tsuna, Reborn, and Yamamoto were still in shock. I giggled. "I win." 

"Listen to people the first time, Ahodera." Reborn laughed with me. 

"If anyone's not coming, it's you. You're too injured. You need rest." 

"I'm the Tenth's right hand man, of course I'm going!" Gokudera growled at me. I was used to it by now. It was more funny than it was scary. 

"She's right, Gokudera-kun, you should rest." Tsuna agreed. 

Reborn didn't argue with us, so we left Gokudera behind and went to plan our attack Kokuyo Land. 

Right before we left, Gokudera showed up. 

"Gokudera-kun, you should be resting, shouldn't you?" Tsuna said. 

"I'm fine, Tenth, trust me! Shamal actually helped me out, surprisingly." He laughed. 

"Hey, Hayato." Bianchi smiled and waved. 

"Big sis…" Gokudera's stomach growled as he fell to the floor. 

"Gokudera-kun, are you okay!?" I exclaimed as I ran to his side. 

"Y--yea, I'm fine." He lied. 

"Bianchi used to feed him poison cookies every time he preformed a piano recital. He's got trauma now, his stomach acts up whenever he sees her." 

"POISON COOKIES?!" I exclaimed. The strange thing was, I actually believed it. After hearing about the mafia and using ice powers, I'd pretty much believe anything. 

Tsuna, Reborn, Bianchi, Gokudera, Yamamoto, and I headed over to Kokuyo Land. 

"So, what's the plan, Tenth?" Gokudera asked when we got there. 

"We've got to find Rokudo Mukuro and Hibari-san. Hopefully Hibari-san will have won by the time we find him." Tsuna chuckled. "I know this place…" 

Tsuna told us about his childhood here, and where things roughly were. And that was when Yamamoto was attacked. 

"Yamamoto!" Tsuna exclaimed. We were all worried. "Something's down there with him!"

"What is it? Some kind of animal!?" I worried. But an animal would be easier to take down than a Mafioso. The next thing we knew, a human/animal hybrid stepped into the light. They started fighting, and the hybrid changed 'channels' by putting in different teeth. 

"Yamamoto, hang in there!" Tsuna cheered him on. 

"If you're so worried, go on and help him!" Reborn kicked Tsuna down to where Yamamoto's fight was happening. 

"Reborn-san!" Gokudera exclaimed. 

This was exactly what needed to happen. Tsuna distracted the animal hybrid long enough for Yamamoto to beat it. The boys returned to the surface. We decied to have lunch then. 

"What's wrong with my lunch, Yamamoto Takeshi?" Bianchi glared at him. She thought poison cooking would 'warm us up'. 

"Well, why don't we just have both?" Yamamoto laughed. 

Suddenly, the food started exploding. 

"What was that!?" I exclaimed. We all took cover, and a girl in the same uniform appeared. 

"It was my beautiful flute." The girl answered. "I'm M.M! Mukuro-chan hired me to take you all out! And that's exactly what I'm going to do." 

I felt totally useless. I couldn't exactly freeze sound waves, and I couldn't get close enough to her to use my ice powers. 

"It's my turn. Everyone, take cover. I'll handel this." Bianchi stepped up. It turns out, she was fighting for the sole purpose of Reborn not being woken from his nap. 

Bianchi was able to get closer and closer to M.M and her flute. She tried to take it away, but she couldn't even touch it. 

"This is bad…" I said to myself. "Bianchi's running out of food." 

I took advantage of the opportunity Bianchi had provided, and snuck up on M.M. Just when Bianchi was out of food and was about to be attacked, I froze M.M solid. 

"You did it, Kenzie-san! Good job!" Tsuna smiled. 

"I guess it's a good thing I came, eh, Gokudera-kun?" I giggled. 

"Tsch." Gokudera looked away, not wanting to admit to being wrong. Eventually, he gave in. "I guess it was…"

It was one opponent after the other. Before we could even enter the building, we heard the oldest, most hideous, most irritating, worst laugh in the universe. An old, ugly man with a hideously long nose appeared. 

"You're not going anywhere. Now it's time for me, Birds, to take you on." He cackled. 

"Tenth, leave this to me!" Gokudera said, pulling out a handful of bombs. 

"Oh, I wouldn't do that if I were you." Birds said. He showed us pictures of Kyoko and Haru. They were being stalked by weird, skeleton-looking things with claws, that were also in the school uniform. 

"What have you done to Kyoko-chan and Haru!?" Tsuna demanded. 

"Nothing, yet. But I will unless you obey my every command." Birds cackled his hideous laugh again. "For starters, beat up the Tenth." 

"You ass hole…" Gokudera growled. 

"It's okay, everyone." Tsuna assured them. "It'll save Kyoko-chan and Haru. It's worth it." 

Nobody stepped up. 

"The girls will be dead on the count of three. Three." Birds started counting. 

"Come on, guys!" Tsuna pleaded. 

"Two." 

"Anyone!" 

"One!" 

Right as Birds was getting ready to press the button, Bianchi punched Tsuna in the face. 

"Thank you, Bianchi." Tsuna said with a fat lip. 

"Good job." Birds cackled. Then he pulled out a dagger. "Somebody stab the Tenth." 

"No! We're done!" I growled at Birds, more mad than I'd ever been. 

Nobody stepped up to do it, so Tsuna took the blade and was going to stab himself. But, just as he was about to do it, the skeleton-like men, known as the Bloody Twins, were simultaneously taken out. I-pin and Lambo's older versions took out one of them and Dr. Shamal took out the other. 

"Thank goodness." I sighed in relief. Gokudera then got the honours of knocking out Birds. 

"Who's that?" Bianchi asked. She saw a figure in the shadows. "Reveal yourself!" 

It was a boy who stepped out of the forest. 

"Fuuta!" Tsuna exclaimed. He ran after the boy. 

"Fuuta?" I asked. 

"Ranking Fuuta. He's a Mafioso on our side who went missing." Gokudera explained. "Let's go get him!" 

"I--I'm staying with Mukuro-san…" Fuuta said before he ran off. Tsuna was the only one who got the chance to run after him before a giant black ball on a chain almost hit us. 

"Rokudo Mukuro!" Gokudera exclaimed, remembering him from the picture Reborn showed us. 

"Where's Hibari-san, then?" I wondered. 

Rokudo Mukuro launched the ball at Gokudera again. He dodged it, but was somehow still hurt. He couldn't move. 

"Gokudera-kun!" I exclaimed. I figured it must have been his past injuries that weren't allowing him to fight properly. 

"I guess it's my turn again, then." Yamamoto stepped up against Rokudo Mukuro. 

"You're next, huh?" Rokudo Mukuro said as he threw the ball at Yamamoto. He dodged it, too, but was still knocked to the ground somehow. Using his bat a shield, Yamamoto was able to get back up. "Not bad." 

The next time the ball was throw, Yamamoto sent a cloud of dust into the air so he could see how the attack worked. As it turned out, air currents were what was hurting them, not the impact of the ball. Unfortunately, knowledge of the attack didn't help, and Yamamoto was out of commission as well.

Just when I was about to freeze it, I heard Reborn. 

"Tsuna. Fight him with your dying will!" Reborn smiled as he shot a bullet at Tsuna, who then came flying towards us to stop the ball from hitting Bianchi. Tsuna managed to reduce Rokudo Mukuro to fighting hand-to-hand combat. Without the ball-and-chain, I thought Rokudo Mukuro wouldn't be a threat.

"My true strength is in hand-to-hand combat." Rokudo Mukuro said before attacking Tsuna. I was going to try to freeze him, but Reborn jumped on my shoulder. 

"Do you have a good enough aim? You might end up freezing Tsuna instead." Reborn worried. 

He was right. I had barely practiced this. Now wasn't the time to use it. I let Tsuna take care of Roduko Mukuro. But, by the end of the battle, it turns out he wasn't Rokudo Mukuro. He was just being controlled. The poor man had been mind-controlled by Rokudo Mukuro, resulting in him murdering his own Mafia Family with his own two hands. His real name was Lanchia, and he had switched to our side. Once that was found out, he was taken out by the yoyo-bastard who fought Gokudera. 

"Lanchia-san!" Tsuna exclaimed. I was equally as worried. He didn't deserve this. 

"Don't worry, we can still save him." Reborn said. "That glasses guy has to have the antidote on him. If we can get that within an hour, we'll save him." 

"No, we have longer." I said as I took Lanchia's hand. I froze him solid. "Nothing should be moving through his body now. We have until he melts, but with that much ice, it should be a while. Let's go." 

All of the obstacles were out of our way. We entered the building and saw a familiar face. 

"Yoyo bastard!" Gokudera growled. I was on my guard, too, ready to freeze him when there was an opening. "Tenth, go on ahead, I'll handle this one." 

"I'll help. You're in no shape to be fighting, but I know you'll never accept that, so we'll have to compromise." 

"I'll leave him to you two, then." Tsuna said as he continued on his way to Mukuro. 

"Stand back, he's dangerous." Gokudera said as he took out some bombs. 

"Not a chance." I smiled and extended my arm toward the yoyo bastard. I froze him solid. He was just beginning to heal from his fight from Gokudera, so there was nothing he could do about it. Despite the fact that I saved him a fight, Gokudera still fell to the floor. "Gokudera-kun! Are you alright?"

"I--I'm fine…" He lied. 

"I didn't think your injuries were this bad! Why did you come in this state?" 

"It's…. Not injuries… they're side effects. Shamal used his Trident Mosquitos… to heal me, but at a cost." 

"We'll just sit tight here. Where does it hurt?" 

"I'm f--fine.."

"Gokudera-kun, where does it hurt?" 

He sighed and gave up. "My stomach." 

I cooled my hands and put them on his stomach. It was like an ice pack, and I could feel I was really helping. He relaxed. After a little while, I took off my jacket and put it under his head, then went back to being a human ice pack. He was fast asleep. 

"Reckless bomb-boy." I chuckled. That was the first time I realized how adorable he was. Sleeping Gokudera was so darn cute. I couldn't take my eyes off him, and he made me forget about the battle going on upstairs. He'd probably wake up mad that he was out of commission, but it didn't matter. Tsuna would win, and Gokudera would be healing faster. It was good for everyone. 

That was when I started to hear more noise than usual coming from upstairs. I knew I should help Gokudera, but I also felt like I needed to help Tsuna. The commotion woke Gokudera up. 

"W--what's going on?" 

"Relax. The yoyo guy is frozen, you can rest and heal now." 

"B--but I've got to help the Tenth…" 

There was another loud noise. They sounded like explosions. 

"Lie down. He's fine, you're in worse shape, Gokudera." 

"Listen, I appreciate what you're trying to do, but I have to go. I'm his right hand man." 

"But--"

Gokudera didn't listen. 

"You're a member of this family, right? This is just as much your responsibility as it is mine, right?" 

"R--right…" I sighed and stared at the ground, ashamed of myself. Gokudera smiled and extended his hand to me. 

"Don't worry. You can help heal everyone when we all make it out of this. Until then, we've got to fight until the the last man's down, okay?" 

I smiled slightly, still feeling like an idiot. 

"Okay." I took his hand and we ran to where the fight was. By the time we got there, Bianchi had been possessed and Tsuna was wearing pair of gloves that shot his deathperation flame. 

"W--what happened here?" Gokudera asked. I wasn't sure, either. 

"Gokudera-kun, look out!" Tsuna exclaimed. I instinctively jumped and pushed Gokudera out of the way. We both fell to the ground, but all I got from the weapon Rokudo Mukuro threw was a little scrape. 

"Kenzie, are you alright?" Gokudera asked. 

"Yeah, I'm fine, it's just a little scratch." I said. I tried to get up, but my body wouldn't move. That was when I lost consciousness. My body started moving on its own, and it decided it was a good idea to freeze Gokudera solid. 

"What are you doing, Kenzie!?" Gokudera exclaimed. 

"Mukuro, you jerk! You possessed Kenzie, too!?" Tsuna exclaimed in anger. 

"Possessed!?" Gokudera finally understood before he was frozen completely. I couldn't do anything while I was freezing Gokudera, so Tsuna took the opportunity to attack me from behind. I was unable to move, not even by possession. 

Tsuna was then finally able to beat Rokudo Mukuro. I happened to wake up just as the Vindice took him away. 

"G--Gokudera-kun!" I exclaimed. He was covered in my ice, and I hadn't learned how to reverse the process myself. I tried, and tried, but nothing was working. Reborn hopped on my shoulder. 

"He'll unfreeze in a while. Don't worry about it too much." Reborn smiled. But it didn't help. I focussed all my thoughts on melting him, but the only thing I could see was snow. Suddenly, a white flame appeared on my forehead like it had Tsuna's. "You can go into deathperation mode at will?" 

"Deathperation mode? Like Tsuna?" I asked. 

"Wow." Gokudera stared. I could tell how jealous he was. 

"Gokudera-kun!" I smiled and gave him a big hug. The white flame disappeared. I was just happy to have melted him, I didn't care about anything else. Gokudera blushed and hesitantly hugged me back. 

"How's the Tenth?" Gokudrea asked, extremely worried. 

"He'll be out for a while, but fine. Lanchia has gotten the antidote now, too. All that's left is to take care of you two. How are you?" 

"I'm fine." I said. I hadn't been hurt by anything. "Gokudera-kun needs to go to the hospital, though." 

"Really, I don't--"

"Yes, you do." I insisted. 

"Fine. But only if it's someone other than Shamal." 

I couldn't help but giggle at his face. Gokudera was pretty cute, even when he was mad. That was when Gokudera noticed my cut. He stepped behind me and pushed my hair out of the way. The cut had happened on the back of my neck. 

"It's a good thing Shamal gave me extras." Gokudera said as he put the bandaid on my cut. His touch made me shiver. "Sorry, were my hands cold?" 

I went red in the face because he noticed. 

"O--only because I froze you solid… I'm sorry…" 

"It wasn't you, Kenzie. You were being controlled. It was actually a good thing, you took me out before I had the opportunity to be possessed." 

"I--I guess you're right." I fake smiled and lied. I still felt bad. But I wasn't going to dwell on that for too long. 

We went back to school the next day, and things returned to normal. Lunch was, again, half eating with Hana and Kyoko and half studying in the Library. 

"Yo, Kenzie, what's up?" Reborn asked as he hopped on my shoulder. 

"The amount of work object A does as the change in volume increases while pressure is constant." I chuckled. "I mean, physics." 

"Good, keep working hard. Not only at school, but as a member of the Vongola." 

"I definitely will." I smiled. "I think I know what you came here to talk about. What was that white flame?" 

"It's a deathperation flame like Tsuna's, that's for sure. But I've never seen one that colour before. Tsuna's flame is the sky attribute, orange. The storm attribute is red, the rain attribute is blue, the sun attribute is yellow, the lightning attribute is green, the mist attribute is indigo, and the cloud attribute is violet. There's no attribute with a white flame that I know of. Only rumors of it." 

"Rumors?" 

"The others would probably get all worked up if they knew about this. But, I think you're the only one it will calm down. Each generation has the boss with the sky attribute, and one guardian for each of the remaining attributes. It was said that, only in the first generation, there was an eigth attribute: snow." 

"Why only in that generation?" 

"I don't know. It was Vongola Primo's wife who had it. She is the only one known to have the snow attribute. Nobody before her, so when she passed away, her ring was put on display in the Vongola Headquarters in Italy, since it had no successor. It's been forgotten lately." 

"Her ring?" 

"Oh yeah, I forgot to mention. There are these special rings that each guardian gets, and it has the symbol of their attribute in it. It's proof that they're the rightful successor. But you're all too young for these rings. Soon enough, you'll be able to see them, and wear them. Tsuna has been chosen by both Vongola the Ninth and his External Advisor. He's undoubtedly going to be Vongola Tenth." 

"Does he know that yet?" 

"No, I've got to save the big stuff for after he stops wetting the bed." 

I couldn't help but laugh at that. 

"Oh, and it goes without saying that you can't tell anyone about the Vongola Rings, okay?" 

"Right. You can count on me, Reborn." 

And with that, he left and I finished my physics homework. 

A week passed by with everything as it was before. Only, I spent some more time after school with Tsuna, Yamamoto, Reborn, Lambo, I-Pin, Kyoko, Haru, and of course, Gokudera-kun, than I normally spent with anyone after school. I was a bit of a book worm, but I was slowly getting out more and more with them. It was nice. 

We were out one day and were taking a break after going to the arcade when we heard a strange scream. 

"VOOOOOOOOOIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!" I looked up and saw that the scream came from a twenty-something year old, long silver haired, swordsman dressed in black. He was scary. Very scary. 

"Stand back." Gokudera said as he instinctively stepped in front of me to protect me from the villain. 

"Sawada-dono!" I heard another voice say. That was when I first realized someone had literally landed right on top of Tsuna. He had dirty blonde hair, blue eyes, and an even more blue deathperation flame on his forehead. He looked to be closer to our age than the villain. He was on our side, that was for sure. 

Reborn tapped Kyoko and Haru on the shoulder. "Women and children should probably evacuate." 

Haru and Kyoko took the kids and left. I couldn't help but smile though, because he didn’t say the same to me. Not even Gokudera told me I should leave. I was finally accepted. 

"What business do you all have with that blonde brat?!" The long haired man demanded.  
Meanwhile, the blue-flamed boy took Tsuna with him. 

"Hey! Where are you taking the Tenth!?" Gokudera exclaimed. But the three of us, including Yamamoto, were too worried about the obvious enemy in front of us. He was too far away for me to freeze him. The boys would have to get me closer if I had any hope. 

"Fine, if you won't answer, I'll just kill you!" 

"Go ahead and try!" Gokudera exclaimed back. 

Yamamoto faced the long-haired man first, but he shot bombs from his sword, and Yamamoto was down. Gokudera faced him next, but there was the same result. 

"Hey, hey, hey, you've got to be kidding me. A little girl is going to face me? Without a weapon, at that? You're not even worth my time!" 

I kept walking toward him with a confident face. I extended my arm, and started to freeze him. 

"Whoa, whoa, can't have that." The long-haired man kicked me in the stomach before I could freeze all of him. I managed to freeze his sword before I was knocked unconscious, but I hoped I still helped. The man knocked the ice against the wall and was able to break it without breaking his sword. He caught up to the blue-flame boy and Tsuna. "Well, well, well, what do we have here? The Vongola Rings, huh? I'll be taking those." 

Tsuna tried to fight him, but with only deathperation mode, and not hyper deathperation mode like he had with Mukuro, he couldn't win. Luckily, an ally stepped in to save the day. 

"What do you think you're doing to my little brother, Squalo?" Dino, boss of the Chavalone family said. 

"Dino…" Squalo glared. "I'd sure love to kick your ass, but the honchos would kick mine if I broke the alliance. I'll just take these rings and go." 

Squalo took off without another word. 

When I woke up, we were all at Tsuna's house. 

"What are these?" I overheard Tsuna asking. 

"They're called the Vongola Rings. Well, these are the Vongola Half Rings. They're proof that you are the successors. Vongola Ninth and the External Advisor each give out half of a ring of every attribute to the candidate they chose, who distributes them to their family members. There used to be seven in total, until now. Now there are eight." Dino explained.

"Wait, didn't that evil grey haired guy take those?" I asked. 

"Kenzie! You're alright!" Gokudera beamed. 

"Yeah, I'm okay now." I smiled. 

"Actually, I had the real ones. Squalo took fake versions. We have about ten days until the Varia notice we took them." Dino explained. 

"Varia?" I asked. 

"The Varia is an independent assassination squad of the Vongola. Xanxus is their leader. He wants the spot as boss, so he's trying to steal the rings from us. We'll have to fight him if he comes and attacks us with his members." Reborn explained. 

"We're ready!" Gokudera insisted. 

"Not yet, you're not. We're going to train you as hard as you can throughout these days. I've got a tutor personalized to each and every one of you. Obviously, I'll train Tsuna. Gokudera, you know who your tutor will be. Yamamoto, too. Ryohie will be trained by Collonello, who you've met before. Well, everyone except Kenzie. Lambo's plan is different from everyone else's. Hibari will be trained by Dino. Our Guardian of Mist is already strong enough. And Kenzie… There's only ever been one Guardian of Snow before, so I'm not sure what the deal is with that. But you're already advanced with your ice magic, so self practice and meditation will be your key. Training starts first thing in the morning, so get a good nights sleep everyone." 

There was a moment of silence before we all dispersed. I walked out of the house and Gokudera caught up with me. 

"Oh, hey, Gokudera-kun." I smiled. 

"Hey, Kenzie. Are you worried?" He asked. I blushed. He was the one that was worried, and not about the upcoming fight, but about me. 

"No, not really." I half lied. I wasn't that worried. I knew I had everyone else to back me up. But I didn't have any mentor or anyone to turn to for help. "How about you?" 

"I'm not worried about the fight, just about you." Gokudera said. He immediately turned red. "I mean, I'm worried about pretty much everyone. Especially the stupid cow. He's going to get hurt if he's not careful." 

"He won't be involved in this. We'll take care of it. There's going to be as many of them as there is us, minus one for Lambo. But we don't know if they have a Guardian of Snow yet. If they don't, I can defeat their Guardian of Lightning and we'll be even." 

"Are you sure you're alright?" 

"Yeah, I'm fine, Gokudera-kun. I appreciate your concern, though…" I blushed. 

"O--of course, we're friends, right?"

I didn't know what to think of that, to be honest. It could be good, but it could also be bad. That was the first time I realized that I really wanted to be more than friends with Gokudera. But there was no way in hell I was going to tell him that. 

"Right. And I'm worried about you all, too. I'm hoping to freeze as many people as I can so you can take them out with the least damage possible. We're all in this together, and with the right strategy, no matter how strong the Varia are, we'll win." 

"That goes without saying! Only the Tenth is fit to being the next Vongola boss!" 

"Exactly! And you learned that the hard way, didn't you?" I giggled and teased Gokudera about how he tried to kill Tsuna and become Vongola Tenth himself. 

"T--that was before I even knew him!! I'd never do anything like that now!" Gokudera exclaimed, ashamed of himself. 

"I know, I know." I smiled. "You really are a storm, Gokudera. Always blowing up at people." 

Once again, Gokudera was ashamed of himself. 

"What about you, huh? Are you the peaceful blanket of snow that falls on Christmas morning, or are you a northern blizzard that will freeze everything in sight?" 

"Well, that all depends on who I'm with. I'd never intentionally freeze a friend. But if an enemy tries to hurt anyone, I won't hesitate to bring them a personal ice age." 

"I guess we're both storms then, aren't we?" 

"I guess we are." 

That was when we arrived at my house. 

"Thanks for walking me home, Gokudera-kun. Good luck with your training." 

"You, too." He smiled and waved as he walked away. 

This is bad… Gokudera thought to himself. Vongola Primo's wife was the only Guardian of Snow there's ever been… if it means that she's supposed to be with the Tenth… then I'd better stop these feelings before they get out of hand… Tsch… as if it would be that easy… 

The next morning, I woke up with the Vongola Ring of Snow on my finger. Well, the half-ring. The ring hadn't brought around any change, yet. The days passed, and we all got more anxious about the battle. Gokudera and Yamamoto were excited to get their revenge on Squalo. Tsuna was scared something would happen to us. I wasn't all that nervous, just a bit. I was confident that if we all fought together, we could do anything. I could freeze all their opponents, making them easy immobile targets. It was a fool-proof plan, until the Varia finally showed up. 

I got a call on my cell phone. 

"Hello?" I answered the phone. 

"Hey, Kenzie, it's me, Gokudera. Have you seen Lambo, I-Pin, or Fuuta? Nobody can find them." Gokudera worried. That got me worried. 

"It's too early for the Varia to be here, they're probably just lost. Right?" 

"I hope that's all it is. The stupid cow has the Vongola Ring or Lightning, so he'll be targetted."

"I know. I'll come help look for him, just in case the Varia are here." 

"Meet me at the park. We'll look together." 

"We'll get more ground covered if we split up." 

"Meet me at the park, Kenzie." 

Gokudera hung up on me. He sounded so serious that I had to meet him. 

"Hey, Gokudera-kun. Where have you looked so far?" I asked. 

We started with the places he hadn't seen. Then, we saw a flash of lightning and bolted to where it came from. All of us had seen it, and we all met up where the flash took place. Gokudera and I showed up just as two girls with pink hair and eye masks joined the scene. 

"Wait, please." The girls said together. 

"We're the Chervello, the Ninth's personal servents. We will be the judges of the official Ring Conflict. Vongola Ninth has decreed this." The first Chervello held out a peace of paper with a sky deathperation flame. 

"No doubt about it, that's the Ninths." Reborn frowned. He didn't like where this was going." 

"Vongola Ninth has chosen Xanxus-sama as his successor. The External Advisor has chosen Sawada Tsunayoshi as his successor. Each have a set of Vongola Half-rings. Each element will battle their counterpart for the rings, and whoever has the most rings in the end will win." The second Chervello explained. 

I could see the worry on Reborn's face. He knew something wasn't right. I looked over at our opponents, and they didn't look friendly. Their leader, Xanxus, had a scar on his face, right underneath the eyes that stared daggers into Tsuna. Speaking of eyes, the next member's were completely covered with his straight blonde hair. He had a menacing grin. The one who attacked with lightning looked to be the oldest, and one of the most dangerous. There was also a baby, but like Reborn, I knew he wasn't ordinary. Squalo was there, too. The next one had a funny looking mohawk and sunglasses. There was only one girl, and she had short white hair. She had my attention for most of the meeting. I didn't know the elements of anyone else, but I could tell she was Xanxus' Guardian of Snow. The girl smiled and winked at me. She couldn't have been older than six, and she was the only one in the Varia who seemed friendly, but I was willing to bet it was all an act. Finally, there was a big machine behind them. The Varia were a force to be reckoned with. But in the end, they were assassins and villains. I had no doubt in my mind that good (us) always triumphs over evil (them). 

After that, we all retreated to Tsuna's house. 

"This is bad." Reborn said. "Tsuna, Gokudera, and Yamamoto aren't ready yet. Hibari might be." 

"We all will be by the time our battle comes." I smiled. 

"Whatever happens, it'll work out." Yamamoto agreed. We were the water elements, and water always flows. We were pretty good at going with it. Meanwhile, Tsuna was freaking out. 

"How are we going to get the stupid cow ready?" Gokudera asked. 

"Future Lambo will fight, obviously." Reborn said. "The stupid cow doesn't have a chance, but he was chosen as the Guardian of Lightning for a reason. We don't have to worry about him." 

"His opponent will be Levi. He's the boss' lackey and has a virtually unstoppable attack, Levi Volta, that surrounds the opponent with umbrellas and electrocutes them. Bel, Gokudera's opponent, uses knives and is a genius. He's also an ex-prince who supposedly killed his family, including his twin brother. Squalo is a master swordsman, who was supposed to be the boss of the Varia until Xanxus showed up. He'll be our most formidable opponent, besides Xanxus. Good luck, Yamamoto. Lussuria is a martial artists just like his opponent, Ryohei. Nobody knows anything about Gola Moska, not even if there's a person inside or not. But either way, he's no match for Hibari. Mammon is possibly an arcobaleno, and a master illusionist, much like our Guardian of Mist. We don't know a thing about their latest addition, who will likely be facing Kenzie." 

"Nothing? No advice you can give her? Not even a name?" Gokudera worried. 

"Not even a name." Reborn sighed. "I'm sorry, but they've kept all information on her confidential. And I mean even more confidential than the original information on the Varia. I'm not even certain the Ninth was notified of her arrival." 

"She's not fighting." Gokudera said. Everyone was shocked, even me. 

"But I'm a guardian." I objected. 

"You're not fighting." Gokudera repeated himself. "If you go in there and die, the future won't be the same. We can't risk it." 

I laughed. 

"Gokudera-kun, you've got it backwards. At this rate, Xanxus will take over, and probably ruin, the Vongola Family's future. We've got to fight to save the future. I don't want anyone to fight, either. But more people will die if we let Xanxus take over than if we fight and lose one or two of us along the way." 

"Neither of those things can happen." Tsuna said. "We're not going to let Xanxus take over, and none of us are going to die." 

"Tsuna's right. We're the good guys. We never die." I giggled. 

"You think it's a game, too?" Gokudera growled. 

"No. But life's always better with a smile." I beamed, trying to hide all the not-so-smiley emotions I was feeling. I left first, while Gokudera talked some more with Tsuna. On the way home, I lost it. Lambo was going to have to fight now. Everyone would be battling on their own, with no help from anyone else. The chance of defeat, or worse, death, had increased 10 fold. I didn't know what to do. I wanted to take everyone and leave, so we wouldn't lose anyone. I ended up sitting with my back against a wall and my knees tucked into my chest, trying to calm myself down. 

It was just my luck that Gokudera's house was the same way as mine. He heard me when he was making his way home. He walked into the alleyway, not knowing it was me, and was shocked when he found out. 

"K--Kenzie? What are you doing here? Are you okay?" Gokudera asked. I tried to dry my tears as discretely as possible, but he still knew I'd been crying. 

"Oh, it's nothing. I just suddenly had a dizzy spell, so I sat down for a moment, and ended up almost falling asleep thanks to all the excitement wearing me out today. Don't you hate yawning so much that your eyes water? I wear an eye cover to bed to block the sunlight, and they always get wet when I yawn trying to fall asl--"

I was interrupted by a hug from Gokudera. I expected him to tell me to get myself together. Something along the lines of "You're a guardian, aren't you!?" or "Get a grip!!". I thought he'd complain about how weak I was being and scream at me to become stronger. That didn't happen. It was more like the opposite.

"It's okay, Kenzie. I get it. If it comes down to it, hand over your ring. The match will stop, you'll be safe, which means we'll all be happy. You can leave the rest of the Ring Conflict to us." Gokudera held me tight. I started crying again, but it was silent, so Gokudera didn't notice. Then he stepped back and smiled. "But that's not going to happen, Kenzie. The duty of the Guardian of Snow is to blind and freeze the enemy. But the essence of snow itself it joy. You're always so cheerful, so positive, so happy. If anyone embodies that, it's you. Your joy will fuel your power. For the Tenth, it's peace and harmony. For the baseball idiot, it's tranquility. For turf top, it's excitement. For the stupid cow, it's competition. For me, it's a sense of purpose. For whoever the Guardian of Mist is, it's mystery. For Hibari, it's independence. We all have something that fuels our power, something that helps us to bring out our true strength. When you're fighting, think of something that makes you happy. Don't let these events change your heart, just let them strengthen you."

My first thought was "I can't do that, Gokudera-kun. I could never just give away my ring.". But I decided to go with something different. 

"Thank you, Gokudera-kun." I smiled and hugged him back. 

"Promise me you won't do anything reckless. Promise me that, if your life is in danger, you'll immediately give up your ring." 

"Will you promise me the same?" 

Gokudera was touched. He'd never really felt he fit in, especially after he heard a certain piece of news. But not only was he fitting in now, he was deeply cared for by all of us. But at the same time, he didn't know if he could keep that promise. We were the heroes, after all. We always somehow made it out alive. But, in the end, he made the promise. 

"I promise." He smiled and held out his pinkie. 

"I promise, too." I said as I did the same. 

"Now, let's get you home." Gokudera smiled. We talked about random stuff, trying to get our minds off the upcoming fight. We laughed lots on the way, and passed by his house. "Are you sure you're alright? We can hang out a little longer at my house if you want. If there's anything else you want to talk about." 

I wanted to come in and just spend time with him. But just the thought of that made me blush and it made me too shy to actually say yes. 

"I--I'm good, thanks. I'm just overtired from all the excitement. I'm usually not like that." 

"I know." Gokudera smiled and we continued walking. 

"Thanks for walking me home again." I smiled and gave him a hug. 

"Anytime." He smiled. 

"Are you okay with all this, Gokudera-kun? You really helped me, and if there's anything I can do to help you, let me know." 

"You already have, Kenzie. Before we got to know each other, I was prepared to sacrifice my life for the Tenth. Shamal wouldn't teach me because I couldn't see the value of my own life. But the more we hang out, the more… I mean, look at me now. I went from willing to sacrifice myself to promising to sacrifice the ring instead. If you had asked me to make that promise ten days ago, I wouldn't have been able to make it, let alone keep it." Gokudera sighed. "You can talk to the Tenth about these things, too. You don't need to keep anything to yourself, okay?" 

I still didn't understand why he brought up Tsuna. Something felt odd about it. It could have been just because he wanted me to have another friend to talk to, but that didn't quite seem it. He didn't look at me while he said it, and he was clearly hoping I would take him up on the talking offer, not Tsuna. So why did he mention him? In the end, I just went to bed when we got home and decided that I would turn to Gokudera first with my problems, if I had any more. 

The next night was the first battle of the Ring Conflict. We all arrived at Namimori Middle around the same time. The Varia came slightly after us. The Chervello then announced that Ryohei and Lussuria would be the first to fight. 

"Let's form a circle!" Yamamoto suggests. I was too busy focusing on my partner. She seemed perfectly nice and normal, nothing like the rest. 

"Kenzie! Get in here!" Ryohei smiled. The four boys were huddled up. I felt a little odd joining them, but in the end, it was fun. 

The battle began, and we were all on the edge of our seats, praying for Ryohei. He won, and took the sun ring. The next night, it was Lambo's turn. As usual, we assembled at Nami Middle at the same time. However, Levi from the Varia had been there for two hours already. 

"Lambo, you don't have to do this. You're just a kid, you shouldn't have to fight. You don't have to if you're scared." Tsuna smiled at him. 

"Wow, Tsuna, don't you know Lambo-san is invincible!?" Lambo laughed. Then he proceeded to ask the Chervello how to play with the battle field. We were all worried beyond belief, even after Reborn explained Lambo's electric skin. However, we had hope when he hopped in the Ten Year Bazooka. But that was gone as quick as it came because even adult Lambo, who is older than us, went into the bazooka crying. 

But that was the end of the battle. As soon as twenty-five year old Lambo joined the scene, he dominated. He kicked major butt, Levi didn't stand a chance in hell. However, the Ten Year Bazooka was only good for five minutes. Five year old Lambo returned, and was unconscious, not to mention doomed. Tsuna wrecked the field, stopping the match. Unfortunately the Vongola Rings of Lightning and Sky went to the Varia by disqualification. But Lambo was alive, and that was what really mattered. 

"The Vongola doesn't need a boss who doesn't care about his subordinates." Reborn smiled, praising Tsuna for his good work. 

"Tomorrow night's match will be for the Ring of Storm. Gokudera Hayato Vs Belphegor." The Chervello announced. My heart skipped a beat. I was scared for Gokudera. I didn't want anything to happen to him. But he promised me he would sacrifice the ring for his life. I used that to calm me down. 

Gokudera was late. Very late. If he didn't come within thirty seconds, he would be disqualified. But was I worried? No. I'd rather him be disqualified. We did another huddle before Gokudera's match began. 

"Gokudera-kun…" I said before he went in. 

"Yeah?" He turned back. I ran up and gave him a hug. 

"Remember our promise. And… be careful, okay?" 

"I will be." He smiled and patted my head. 

I was so worried the entire match, I couldn't relax for even a second. Finally, the hurricane turbines began exploding. 

"Gokudera-kun!" I exclaimed as they got closer to the library. 

"You can't do this! What's the point if you don't come out alive? We have to watch the fireworks and laugh together! That's what we're fighting for! Peace! Not some rings or mafia family! For our friends!" Tsuna explained. 

"I know, Tenth." Gokudera smiled. "You don't die for your friends. You live for them."

At that moment, the library's turbine blew. Gokudera came out limping and wounded. But he came out smiling! He did the best he could, he kept his promise, and we were all proud of him. I ran up and nearly tackled him to the ground with an attack hug. I was so unbelievably glad he was okay. We took him to the hospital, and I stayed with him there that night. I ended up falling asleep in the chair. 

"Damnit…" Gokudera whispered as he looked at me sleeping. "Being that cute should be illegal. It's making my job a hell of a lot harder, you know?" 

I didn't hear him. I guess it was a good thing, in hindsight. 

"She stayed with me…" Gokudera smiled and blushed. "Maybe I'm wrong about the reincarnation… how sweet would that be?"

The next time Gokudera looked over, I was awake and looking at him. He was so embarrassed it wiped the cute smile off his face. 

"Morning, Gokudera-kun." I smiled. "How are you feeling?" 

"A lot better, thanks. A good night's sleep was all I really needed. I'm good to go." 

"As if." Shamal scoffed as he entered the room. Gokudera immediately tensed up. "If I were to let you go, you'd need so many bandages you'd look like a mummy." 

"Then, that's what's gonna have to happen. I'm not missing tonight's battle. Yamamoto's facing Squalo, and I need to see the baseball idiot give that sword bastard what he deserves. I can't get revenge myself, but I'll have a front row seat for the show." Gokudera-kun promised. 

"Dr. Shamal, please don't use your trident mosquitos on Gokudera-kun anymore. Last time, they had awful side effects." I requested. 

"Sure thing." Shamal smiled at me. 

"Kenzie, I can handel it. And I need to get out of here." 

"Then, mummy wrappings it is." I giggled. 

I stayed the day keeping Gokudera company and helped him get there with his mummy wrappings. You should have seen the look on Tsuna's face, he thought it was an actual mummy. The poor guy must have been really stressed. 

We made a circle again and wished Yamamoto luck. We were all praying again during his match, and I was actually sad to see Squalo die. But it was cancelled out by the happiness of Yamamoto not only surviving, but winning. 

The next match was nothing to me, really. I knew our Guardian of Mist was strong, and I had no doubt we would win. Tsuna was the only one worrying. I giggled when Chrome kissed Tsuna on the cheek, and tried my best to hold Gokudera back so he wouldn't attack her or Ken or Chikusa. I was still mad at them, too, but they weren't our real enemy. And to my surprise, the man who was the real enemy last time turned out to be our Guardian of Mist, and ally, now. 

Everyone's jaws dropped as Chrome changed to Rokudo Mukuro. And we were all so happy that he won.

The next night was crazier than any other. For me personally, at least. 

"Are you sure you want to do this, Kenzie? You don't have to. Really, you don't… I…" 

"Gokudera-kun, you don't have to worry. I'll be just fine. Like you said, I embody snow best. With you, I'm the gentile blanket of snow that falls on Christmas Eve, giving the children a magical Christmas morning. And now it's time for me to take a page out of your book and create a storm." I smiled, then gave Gokudera a hug. 

"The field for the battle for the Ring of Snow will be the entire soccer field. We've prepared enough snow for you both to use. The time limit will be thirty minutes. If the ring is not completed by then, neither of you are fit to be the Guardian of Snow. Battle start!" 

"Wait!" The girl exclaimed. I instinctively listened. "Why do you want to hurt Xanxus-niichan?" 

"Niichan!?" Gokudera exclaimed. 

"I don't want to do that." I smiled, squating down so I was around her height. "Not at all. You see, it was Xanxus who started this battle. He wants the position as boss, but from what I've heard, I think Tsuna will be a better boss." 

"Why? Is Xanxus-niichan not good enough?" 

"No, that's not it. Everyone has something they're meant to do. I think Tsuna is meant to be Vongola Tenth. Xanxus is meant to lead the Varia. Look at how well you guys have done so far under his command? You've never failed a mission, ever! That's amazing! That's where Xanxus belongs, not in Italy as the boss of the Vongola Family." 

"Xanxus-niichan is always mad. How can I fix that?" 

"Only Xanxus can fix that. He's got to learn to be nice. Tsuna is nice, and he's always happy." 

"You seem nice and happy, too. I like you!" 

"Thank you." I giggled. "I like you, too." 

"Do you want to make Xanxus-niichan happy?" 

"Uh… well, I do want him to be happy. I want everyone to be happy. But I also know there's nothing I can do to help him." 

"But there is! I came here because Xanxus-niichan said that getting him this full ring will make him happy! Can you give me the other half?" 

"I'm sorry, I can't do that. Making Xanxus happy like that would make the entire Vongola Family sad. He'd hurt lots of people." 

"Xanxus-niichan wouldn't hurt anyone if he's happy!" 

"I'm sorry to tell you this, but he will. But if Tsuna got this ring, he could make the entire Vongola Family happy instead of sad!" 

"Xanxus-niichan is in the family. Will giving this ring to Tsuna make Xanxus-niichan happy?" 

"Eventually, I thin it will. Xanxus will be mad at first, but soon enough, he'll realize that this is just not for him. Xanxus will be happy to rule his Varia and by the time Tsuna takes over, they'll be saving each other in battle. That's what I believe." 

"Okay! Here!" The girl tossed me the other half of the ring. I was shocked. We didn't have to fight at all. But just before I put the ring together, Xanxus interrupted us. 

"You stupid trash! What do you think you're doing!?" 

"Don't worry, Xanxus-niichan! You're going to be happy now! Just like you were!" She smiled with her whole heart. I quickly put the ring together, and was declared the winner by the Chervello. The Varia were enraged, but Tsuna's family were all cheering. 

"Thank you so much!" I smiled at the girl. 

"No problem, uh…" She tried to figure out my name. 

"Kenzie. I'm Kenzie. What's your name?" 

"I'm Lila! Nice to meet you!" 

"Do you want to be friends, Lila?" I extended my arms to give her a hug. 

"Yeah!" Lila ran right into my arms and I twirled her around while hugging her. 

"You can keep her." Xanxus snarled, and the Varia left. 

"Xanxus-niichan!" Lila started to cry when she saw him leave. 

"Oh, Lila, don't worry! Xanxus is just a little upset about losing the ring. But, it's okay! He'll come back for you!" 

"Kenzie-neechan, why isn't Xanxus-niichan nice to me?" She cried. 

"Because Xanxus has had something happen to him. Something changed Xanxus. All kids are happy, so something must have happened along the way to change that." 

"But he was so nice to me earlier…" 

"Well, of course he was! You're too sweet not to be nice to!" 

I got a smile out of my new friend. 

"Come on, you can stay at my house, Lila-chan." 

That was when we finally left the field and Gokudera and the gang could come congratulate me. 

"I'm so glad you're alright, Kenzie!" Gokudera smiled as he hugged me. 

Meanwhile, Reborn jumped on Lila's shoulder. 

"Hey, Lila. My name's Reborn. Can I be your friend, too?" Reborn asked. 

"Sure! You're cute!" Lila giggled. 

"When did you meet Xanxus." 

"A little while ago, I don't remember when." 

"Was it a week, a month, a year?" 

"I don't know, maybe a month. Not a year. He wasn't here for my birthday, so." 

"Why did you join the Varia?" 

"Xanxus-niichan took me out to play, and so I wanted to make him happy, too! I hope Kenzie-neechan is right."

"Have you gone on any missions?" 

"No." 

"Do you have any special powers?" 

"Yeah…" She sighed. I was listening in on the conversation. 

"Can you show us?" 

"NO!" 

"Oh? Why not?" 

"Because bad things happen when I try!" 

"What do you mean?" 

"After I used them, my parents went missing. I don't know where they went, but Xanxus-niichan helped me cheer up, and let me stay with him until we could find them. But now he's gone, too." Lila started crying again. I shooed Reborn off her shoulder and picked her up. 

"Don't be sad, Lila-chan. We'll go back to my house and have some hot chocolate and watch a Disney movie! It'll be a slumber party! Won't that be fun?" I smiled and started to walk back to my house. 

"Kenzie, are you sure about this? She's on the Varia's side." Gokudera said. 

"Gokudera-kun, I admit, I had my doubts. But Xanxus abandoned her, and the ring is won. If she was really allied with him, she wouldn't stay with me. He probably would have taken her out like he did Lussuria. She knows nothing about the mafia or anything, she just wants to make people happy. She's a true blue snow angel." 

"Then we'll have the slumber party at my house." Gokudera smiled. 

"Who're you?" Lila asked. Then she giggled. Lila whispered in my ear. "Is he your boyfriend?" 

I went red in the face. 

"I was right! I was right!" Lila giggled. 

"No, no, no!" I giggled back. "I'm way too shy for that." 

"But why?" 

"Because…. I mean…" 

"He is pretty cute." Lila whispered in my ear again. 

"Don't get ahead of yourself, young lady." I laughed again. 

"But I'm right!" 

"Okay, yes, you're right about that!" 

"Great! It's settled then! We'll have the slumber party at your house!"

"We will?" I asked. 

"We will." Gokudera agreed. "It's two against one, Kenzie."

"Yeah! But what's your name, mister?" 

"I'm Gokudera." 

"And I'm Lila! Nice to meet you, Gokudera-niichan!" 

We made it back to Gokudera's house, and I told my parents I was sleeping over at Kyoko's. It would give my parents the wrong idea if I told them I was staying with Gokudera. We watched our Disney movie, Frozen, with hot chocolate. Pretty soon, Lila fell asleep. Gokudera carried her up to his bed and let her sleep there while we talked on the couch. 

"Did you always know about the mafia, Gokudera-kun?" I asked. 

"Yeah, for as long as I can remember. I knew that was what I was destined for. Although I always thought I'd be a boss, but I'm happier as the Tenth's right hand man than I ever imagined myself being as a boss. What did you think when you first found out?"

"I overheard Yamamoto talking about it before you outright told me. I was scared for you guys. It was hard to believe, but I was only sure because you said it wasn't a game like Yamamoto thought it was. I'm just now starting to realize how much my life is changing. I always thought I'd be a doctor. I'd go to university overseas, meet lots of new people, settle down and have four kids, take them to Disney World lots, and take as much time off to spend with them as I could. I wish I could be a stay at home mom like Nana." 

"Wow, a doctor? I…" Gokudera sighed. "I'm sorry you got tangled up in this." 

"Don't be, Gokudera-kun." I smiled. "I'm happier in the mafia than I ever imagined myself being as a doctor." 

Gokudera laughed at that. 

"Four kids, huh? The Ten--" He knew I was going to be with the Tenth, Tsuna. But he wanted to be with me so bad that he avoided putting that idea in my head. 

"Ten what?" 

"Uh, ten kids. I've always wanted ten kids." Gokudera lied covering up his mistake. 

"Holy!" I giggled. "What made you want that many?" 

"There weren't many kids, besides Bianchi, when I was growing up. I figured it would be nice for my kids to always have playmates." 

"I love big families." 

"How many siblings do you have, if you don't mind my asking?" 

"Three. There's my older brother, Roy, my younger sister, Melody, and my younger brother, Joe." 

"How old are they?" 

"Roy is sixteen, Melody is nine, and Joe is six." 

"What a big age gap. It must be nice, though. You get to remember holding them when they were born and that kind of thing." 

"Yeah! And whenever I want to go toboggan, or watch a Christmas movie, or do anything kiddie, Joe's always the first to volunteer to do it with me. I wouldn't survive without him." 

We laughed and continued talking for a while.

"I should go grab my overnight stuff." I said. 

"If you do that, we'll have to wake up Lila-chan." 

"We do?" 

"You know I'm not letting you go anywhere alone. It's already almost three-thirty am. If you don't want to wake her up, I can lend you something to wear. Unless it's important." 

"No, no, it's not that big of a deal. I guess it's no sense fighting you, so I'll borrow your jammies." 

"Alright, be right back." Gokudera left, brought back pyjamas, and I got changed in the washroom first. He even brought me a hoodie in case I got cold. Gokudera changed next, and I got comfy on the couch and enjoyed smelling Gokudera's cologne on his hoodie. By the time he finished getting ready for bed, I was fast asleep. He put a blanket over me and set himself up on the floor. It was almost as if we were a couple. Gokudera watched me sleep until he fell asleep. 

Lila woke us both up bright and early. Gokudera set the eggs he was trying to make on fire, which made Lila laugh hysterically, upsetting Gokudera. In the end, I made some omelets, and Gokudera had never been so glad to screw up. Now, he got to eat my cooking. 

After breakfast, we cleaned up while Lila finished the parts of the movie she fell asleep for. 

"I know you live with your family, so if there's not enough room, or they need an explaination you can't give them without revealing the mafia, or they won't let Lila-chan stay, I can take care of her." Gokudera offered. 

"Really!? You'd do that?" 

"Absolutely. I wouldn't want anything to get between you and your family, and we can't very well send her back to those assassins." 

"Thank you, Gokudera-kun." I smiled and gave him another hug. "I guess Nana will become our babysitter when we're at school." 

"Yeah." Gokudera chuckled. 

I could already imagine Fuuta and Lila getting married when they get older. 

Then, it was time for me to get going. Lila and Gokudera walked me home. "Lila-chan, are you okay to stay with Gokudera-kun?" 

"Yeah! But I'll see you soon, right?" 

"Every single day!" I smiled and gave her a great big hug. Then, I turned to Gokudera, and gave him an even greater and bigger hug. "Thank you so much, Gokudera-kun." 

"No problem, Kenzie. See you soon." He smiled and closed his eyes as he hugged me back. 

The next night, we all met up at Nami Middle again. Gokudera, Lila, and I showed up together. 

"Oh look! The family's here!" Reborn smiled. Gokudera and I were embarrassed, and he almost shouted something at Reborn. "I mean, the family is all here. Everyone's made it, even Hibari, and on time tonight for a change." 

Gokudera was, once again, ashamed. 

The battle began. Not a single one of us was worried about Hibari. As his tutor, Dino, had said, Hibari didn't even have Moska in his sights. The robot was defeated in an instant, and Hibari won the match. However, Hibari wasn't satisfied. He wanted to fight more. And Xanxus took advantage of this by attacking him under the pretence of getting Gola Moska. 

The robot then went on a rampage. I picked up Lila, and Gokudera pushed us both out of the way, taking a hit for us. 

"Gokudera-kun!" I exclaimed in horror. 

"I'm okay! Run! Take Lila and Run!" Gokudera ordered. I did as I was told, but only to get Lila to safety. As soon as she was safe with Nana, I rushed back. I hadn't been gone long, and I was more than ready to kick some ass. Gola Moska launched another attack at Gokudera. I blocked it, and launched one of my own. 

"Go to hell, tin can!" I exclaimed as I froze Gola Moska solid. That was when Tsuna showed up, just in time for Gola Moska to melt my ice. 

"Are you and Lila alright?" Gokudera asked. 

"Yeah, are you?" I asked. 

"Yeah, I'm fine." He lied. I could tell he wasn't. "The Tenth is here now. He'll take care of this.

And so Tsuna did. Gola Moska was completely defeated, only to reveal its power source, Vongola the Ninth. Xanxus went on and on about how Tsuna has hurt the ninth and how he is a traitor and such. 

"That's bull! You knew he was in there, Xanxus!" I growled. 

"It's alright, Tenth. You had no clue, this was not your fault." Gokudera tried to calm Tsuna down. But Reborn was more angry than any of us. Tsuna had a moment between him and the Ninth. 

The Chervello announced that the official match would be held tomorrow. The Sky match. Tsuna would, thankfully, have the chance to win his ring back. 

"Lila-chan is just napping on the couch." Nana Sawada smiled. 

"Thanks again for looking after my little sister." Gokudera smiled and picked Lila up. 

"We really owe you one." I smiled. 

"Is she your little sister, too?" Nana asked. 

"Oh, no, she and I are like Tsuna and Fuuta." I laughed. 

"Ah, I see. Not yet." Nana winked at me. Luckily Gokudera didn't hear it, he was too busy getting Lila. 

"Shhhh." I winked back at Nana. She giggled, and then Gokudera and I were on our way home. 

"Tomorrow night, we all have to be there." Gokudera said, in a very serious tone. 

"Yeah. I don't think Tsuna will be participating in the battle alone." 

"Me either."

"That's how it should be, though. We're all in this together. You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us, that kind of thing." 

I managed to get a laugh out of him. 

"Just like last time, you can duck out if you want to. We'll find another way." Gokudera said. 

"I'm not afraid, Gokudera-kun." I smiled. "I was only nervous before because I would be fighting on my own. But we're all going to be together now. We've never lost with teamwork, and that's not about to happen now."

"You sure you're okay?" 

"Yes, you worry wart." I chuckled. "Are you?" 

"Yeah. I'm just worried about everyone. You and Lambo especially." 

"I know I'm a weak link." I sighed. "I've always been, no matter what I do. In sports, in my family, in anything. I'm always the odd one out, and never anyone's…." 

"Anyone's… what..?" 

"Anyone's favourite. Whenever we pair up for anything, Kyoko and Hana are always partners. In games with my cousins, Nicola and Harriet are always partners. All of my friends have other friends who are their best friends. Even if they're my best friend, I'm not theirs." I rambled. Finally, I caught myself. "But if it weren't for Kyoko and Hana choosing each other, I never would have met Tsuna, meaning I wouldn't be involved with you guys now." 

"See. Every cloud has a silver lining." Gokudera smiled. He was this close to telling me I was his favourite. He was about to tell me I was his best friend. However, he stopped himself. He didn't want to come across like he was flirting with me. It was better for me to be a bit sad now than much more sad if I fell for him. Little did he know, I already had. 

The next night, we took Lila to Nana's, then headed to Nami Middle. We were all given bracelets with televisions on them so we could see the fight. Lila was no longer considered a guardian by Xanxus, so she got to stay out of it. And as soon as the Death Heater poison hit, I was extremely glad for that. I worried about Gokudera, Lambo, and everyone. 

"K--Kenzie…" Gokudera growled. He was more mad than he had ever been, and he was not about to let Xanxus get away with causing me pain. 

The rings of lightning and storm were knocked to the ground by Xanxus. Hibari got his own ring down. Belphegor and Hibari fight it out, resulting in Hibari getting the ring and freeing Gokudera. Then, Hibari leaves, and Gokudera goes to free Lambo right before Levi would have killed him. 

They came and released me next. 

"Are you alright?" Gokudera asked as he hugged me. 

"I'm fine, and you?" I worried. 

"I'm alright. Lambo's still unconscious, Hibari's out, and we're going to get Yamamoto, Ryohei, then Chrome." 

"Alright, let's go." I said. By the time we had gotten Ryohei and Yamamoto free, Bel had freed Mammon and they were holding Chrome hostage. 

"Alright, here's how this is going to work." Bel laughed. "You're going to hand over those rings, and we'll give this girl the antidote and hand her back to you. Deal?" 

"As if." Yamamoto did a stealthy attack, and almost got them. We hadn't had time to come up with a plan. 

"Stop, it's an illusion!" I yelled, but it was too late. We were under their control and forced to let go of all the rings we had. Luckily for us, Ryohei broke down the entire gym and the illusion in the process. In the end, despite all of our combined powers, Mammon brought the rings to Xanxus. All seven of them. Tsuna was so exhausted that Mammon easily took the ring from him. However, the rings rejected Xanxus because he lacked the Blood of Vongola. Squalo revealed his story, an all out brawl almost happened once we arrived, but the battle soon came to a close with us winning. Gokudera and I went to pick Lila up again, and then he dropped me off at home. 

"It's finally over. And everyone's okay. Lambo will be coming out of the hospital, soon, too." Gokudera smiled. 

"Yeah. We did it, as a family. The Vongola Family. We're officially the tenth generation of the Vongola. How cool is that?" I giggled. Gokudera laughed with me. "Thanks for walking me home again." 

"Any time, Kenzie." 

"Kenzie-neechan?" Lila said sleepily. 

"Morning, sunshine." I smiled at Lila. 

"Can we have another slumber party soon?" 

"I'd love to, Lila-chan. But it's really up to Gokudera-kun, his house and all." 

"Absolutely." Gokudera smiled. "Maybe this weekend?" 

"Awesome! Thank you, Gokudera-niichan!" Lila smiled and went back to sleep on Gokudera's back. 

"I'll see you Friday then." Gokudera smiled. 

"Friday it is." I gave him a hug and then went to sleep, not being able to wait until Friday. Everything was normal for the time being. Nana watched Lila while we were at school, then I'd be over at Gokudera's house helping him take care of her until her bedtime. On the weekends, I'd stay over at his house, and he could rest up if he needed. We got so much closer during those few weeks. We talked about anything and everything while trying to fall asleep on the couch and the floor respectively. My parents began to question why I was leaving every weekend for the entire weekend, but I couldn't tell them I was taking care of a child. They wouldn't understand. It didn't cause fights, I just begged them to trust me. My marks stayed the same, I was happier than I'd ever been, and I spent as much time with my family as I could after Lila's bedtime. I was really, really, really trying, and my parents saw that, so they let it slide. 

I was on my way to Gokudera's house one day when I heard someone running up behind me. I wasn't able to turn around in time, but something was put over my head. The next thing I knew I was in a forest. I looked around, wondering where I was. 

"K--Kenzie?!" I heard Gokudera say. His voice was a little deeper. I whirled around to where I heard the voice come from. 

"Gokudera-kun!" I beamed. But my smile faded when I saw a much older version of Gokudera. He smiled at me, so I put my smile back on my face. 

"What's going on, Gokudera-kun? Why are you so much more grown up? Where's Lila-chan?" 

"I don't have time to explain, wrap this over your Vongola Ring. I warned Lila-chan to go to Nana's if anything happened to us, so she should be safe there." Gokudera handed me a little black chain. I wrapped it as instructed, then Gokudera picked me up. He held me like a groom would hold a bride at their wedding. Then, he started running through the forest. "You're in the future, Kenzie. You must have been hit by the ten year bazooka. We only have five minutes together. We're also under attack. Can you reach into my back pocket and grab the picture in there?" 

I was embarrassed to reach in, but I did it. Gokudera thought nothing of it. The picture was of a boy with orange hair and glasses. He looked around my age. 

"Who's this?" I asked. 

"His name is Irie Shouichi. When you go back to the past, he has to be killed. Tell that to the me from ten years ago, okay? And help him find Irie if you have to." 

"What!? Why!?" 

"He's ruining the future, Kenzie. Many, many, many people have died because of him, including Yamamoto's dad. Most of our families and friends have gone into hiding, some in the base we're heading to. But what I need you to do will save the future. Tell the past verion of myself to kill Irie Shouichi to save you all." 

That was when we stumbled upon Tsuna in a coffin. 

"Tenth!" Gokudera exclaimed. 

"Gokudera-kun! Kenzie-san!" Tsuna smiled. "What happened to you, Gokudera-kun?" 

"You've been transported to the future, just like Kenzie." Gokudera said as he took the picture from my hand. "Tenth, you need to tell the future me to kill the man in this picture. His name is Irie Shouichi. He's killed way too many people, incuding Yamamoto's dad. If we get rid of him, the future will be saved." 

"Eh!?!?" Tsuna exclaimed in confusion. He was just as surprised as I was that our ally was telling us to murder someone.

"I don't have time to explain everything in less than five minutes, so I'll tell you the basics. A new mafia family has shown up, the Milefiore. They're our enemies. They've used the technology of this time to cause damage around the entire world and kill millions. Irie Shouichi is one of the high-ranking family members, and the key to saving the future. Kill him, and he can't cause any damage." Gokudera explained. 

"Gokudera-kun, where do we fi--" I began, but was interrupted by a poof of pink smoke. The Gokudera I was just talking to was replaced by the version of him from ten years ago. 

"Tenth! Kenzie! Thank goodness! I thought I was hit with the Ten Year Bazooka!" He laughed. 

"You were, Gokudera-kun." Tsuna informed him. "We're here, ten years in the future. We were just talking to your future self. 

"Your older self told us to tell you to kill this man, Irie Shouichi. He's the cause of all these problems and deaths." 

"Then I guess we've got to do it." Gokudera sighed, not liking the idea of it. 

Gokudera took a minute to take in his surroundings.

"Tenth… that's not… a coffin… is it?" Gokudera was afraid to ask. 

"I--I think it is…" Tsuna said, with a sad look on his face. "It's where I showed up… meaning… it's where me ten years in the future was…" 

"What was I doing!? How could I have let you die!? What were we all doing!? You have seven guardians, and not one of them could save you!? I'm a failure as your right hand man!" Gokudera exclaimed. 

"No!" I growled. Both of them were surprised, I rarely raised my voice. "We have the chance to change the future! We're going to be alright! We're going to kick ass and save everyone! Yamamoto's dad, Tsuna, everyone! And you know what we're not going to do? We're not going to kill Irie!" 

"W--we're not?" Gokudera asked. 

"No! We're not!" I sighed, and put a smile on my face. I had gotten their attention. "You know what I learned in the supposed-to-be battle with Lila-chan?" 

"What?" Tsuna asked. 

"When Reborn said that the duty of the Guardian of Snow was to make the surroundings invisible to the enemy, he didn't mean to blind him with a barrage of attacks or a storm. You know what else can blind someone?" 

"Love." Gokudera realised. 

"Exactly. I got that half-ring from Lila-chan because I showed her love, compassion, kindness, and we focused on happiness. I think instead of killing Irie Shouichi, we're supposed to help him. We're supposed to convince him to join us, and save him from himself, through love and kindness. We're supposed to block out all his unnecessary fears and make him forget all his reasons for staying with the Milefiore. All he'll see is white, which is us, the good people." 

"Now that's something we can do." Tsuna smiled. 

"Will it be that easy?" Gokudera wondered. "He's not six years old. And there's nobody stopping the rest of his family from attacking us." 

"It might not be that easy. It might not even work. But it is definitely worth a try."

"Okay. We'll do it. But where are we? Where do we go? How do we get there? Where's everyone else?" Gokudera asked. That was when a barrage of attacks started. It was someone with blue hair in a beige or dirt-brown robe. The three of us tried to fight it, but it captured Gokudera and I. I couldn't freeze the burier even. Finally, the woman revealed herself. It turns out, she wasn't our enemy, she was an ally. She didn't apologize, and she had a bad attitude about her. But she said she was going to lead us to the base, and we had no reason not to believe her, except for the fact we had been attacked. "Do you really think she's taking us to the base?"

"I do." I answered. Tsuna nodded his agreement with me. 

"Alright, it's supper time. I've only brought enough for myself, so you three will have to find your own food." Lal Mirch said. Gokudera was fuming at her attitude, but the three of us went together to search for food. 

Our search lead us to a lake where Lal Mirch was bathing. I saw her first. 

"Did you find anything, Kenzie?" Gokudera asked. 

"No!" I answered and turned around. If Gokudera saw Lal Mirch, I was afraid of what would happen. I managed to turn the boys around and avoid a catastrophe. We didn't find much, so Lal Mirch was nice enough to give us some of the extra fish she caught. She then explained everything to us around the fire. The next morning, we kept on the road, until we were attacked. 

"Didn't you all cover up your rings!?" Lal Mirch hissed. 

"The ring from Lanchia-san!" Tsuna remembered. He quickly covered it up with a second Mammon chain and we started to run for our lives. The next thing you know, older Yamamoto shows up and immobilizes our enemy. 

"Hey, kids." He laughs. "Wow, it's been so long since I've seen you this age. It's hilarious!" 

"Yamamoto!" Tsuna smiled. We were all glad to see him. He lead us to the real base. The more he talked, and the more he did, the more I realized that Yamamoto wasn't the baseball idiot we knew and loved. He had a scar on his chin, and an even larger one on his heart. But who could blame him after his dad had been killed? 

We were all so happy to see Reborn, but nobody was quite as relieved as Tsuna. 

"Gokudera-niichan! Kenzie-neechan!" A girl exclaimed. I turned around to see who it was, and my jaw dropped. Seventeen year old Lila was beaming at me. 

"L--Lila-chan!?" I gasped. 

"Oh my gosh, you're so small and cute!" Lila-chan smiled as she hugged me tight. "I haven't seen you like this in forever!" 

"Wow, Lila-chan." Gokudera smiled as he hugged her. "It's so weird seeing you older than us." 

"It's pretty weird for me, too, but also so cool!" She giggled. "I hope I wasn't too much trouble ten years ago." 

"Not at all, Lila-chan!" I smiled and hugged her again. 

"Hayato-nii, Kenzie-nee, long time no see." Fuuta smiled. Well, nineteen year old Fuuta that is.

"Fuuta!? You're so tall, that’s not even fair!" I giggled as I hugged him, too. 

"I remember the good old days when you were taller than me, Kenzie-nee." Fuuta chuckled. 

"Fuuta-kun, we should get going." Lila smiled as she took Fuuta's hand. 

"Right." Fuuta smiled back, and they went to leave. Gokudera and I were absolutely shocked. I mean, I joked around about the two of them getting together, but actually seeing it was another thing. 

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, where do you think you're going?!" Gokudera literally jumped between the two of them. 

"We've got a mission, Gokudera-niichan." Lila answered. Meanwhile, I was dead. Okay, just passed out on the floor, but still... 

"Okay, then I'm coming, too!" Gokudera decided. 

"But we need you here, Gokudera." Reborn reminded him. "Kenzie needs you, too." 

"Kenzie?" Gokudera looked back to see me on the floor. "Kenzie!" 

Fuuta took Lila's hand again and they went off on their mission before Gokudera noticed. 

"Wait, I'm not done with you, yet!" Gokudera growled. The two of them just laughed. 

"I knew they'd be surprised." Lila giggled. "But even the younger versions approve, Fuuta-kun." 

"They do?" Fuuta laughed. 

"They do! They're just being big siblings. More like parents actually since they practically raised me. Trust me, if Gokudera-niichan didn't like you, you would have been blasted to smitherines. And if Kenzie-neechan didn't like you, you'd be a ex-cicle." 

"True!" Fuuta laughed. "Although the older versions didn't act any different even though they had more time to get used to the idea." 

"That's just them. Kenzie-neechan is easily startled and surprised, like me. Gokudera-niichan is paranoid. I mean, really paranoid. Just look at him and Kenzie-neechan now. He's so afraid of hurting her and the Tenth that he's wasting all his time with her." 

"We should talk to them when we get back." 

"Ha!" Lila laughed. "The day Gokudera-niichan listens to someone other than Tsuna-niichan is the day pigs fly." 

"It's worth a try, isn't it?" 

"Sure, I'll just pull out my Snow Pig and we'll be all set." Lila laughed. "At least he can cool Gokudera down when he explodes." 

"You're hilarious, I love you." Fuuta pulled Lila in for a quick kiss and then they continued on their way. 

"I love you, too." Lila giggled. 

Pretty well as soon as we got there, we got the mission to gather the remaining Guardians. Our first clue that came was Hibird, so we knew where to search for Hibari. When we left the base, we found older versions of Kyoko, Haru, I-Pin, and Lambo. We also found two Millefiore Family members. Yamamoto was replaced with younger Yamamoto just after Tsuna and I went off to find Kyoko. Gokudera managed to take care of everyone there while Tsuna and I teamed up and brought down the other enemy. 

"Are you alright, Tenth? Kenzie?" Gokudera asked when we reunited after the battle. 

"We're alright, Gokudera-kun. I'm glad to see you all are, too." Tsuna smiled. 

The lot of us returned to the base and began our training. Reborn trained Yamamoto, Gokudera trained with Bianchi, Hibari trained Tsuna, and Lal Mirch trained us all. 

We had many meeting to plan our attack on Irie Shouichi. We trained travelling through air vents, we were informed on all the higher-ups, especially Gamma since we had already faced him. 

Suddenly, it was the night before the attack on the Millefiore base. I was a little nervous, but mainly for the safety of everyone else. Gokudera, Tsuna. Yamamoto, Lal, Ryohei… We were going up against some strong enemies, and I wasn't on par with them. I was afraid I'd bring them down more than anything. 

Sleep wasn't happening, so I went to go grab a glass of water. I was surprised to see Gokudera in the kitchen. 

"Oh, Gokudera-kun. Hey." I smiled as I walked in. 

"Hey. What are you doing up, Kenzie?" 

"I couldn't sleep. Is it the same for you?" 

"Yeah… the Tenth, too… I hate seeing him so worried." 

"This is such a high stress time for everyone. We should do something to boost our morale before we head out tomorrow morning!" I beamed. 

She's so cute… Gokudera blushed as he looked at me. Her eyes… her smile… her positive attitude… she's an angel.. As pure as the snow she wields… 

"Any ideas, Gokudera-kun?" I snapped him out of his trans. 

"Uh, no, unfortunately… sorry…" Gokudera sighed. He couldn't focus. And that was when he realized what he had to do to get back to normal. I was drinking my water, leaning against the wall. Gokudera took it from me. "Can I take this for a second? There's… uh… something I have to try…" 

"O--okay?" I said in a confused tone. Gokudera came back after putting the water on the table and put his hand on the wall. With his other hand, he pushed a piece of my hair behind my ear. He put his lips up to my ears. 

"Let me know if this isn't okay…" Gokudera whispered. Thank goodness Gokudera took my cup of water, because I would have surely dropped it. Then he cupped my cheek in his hand, leaned in, and kissed me. I never thought it would happen. Gokudera actually liked me back. We kissed for what felt like a long time. Eventually, he wrapped his arms around my waist and I wrapped mine around his neck. All of a sudden, Gokudera stepped away. He was red, but he didn't look embarrassed. More like a kid who had done something wrong. "I'm sorry.. I shouldn't have done that…" 

"It was okay with me, Gokudera-kun. Really, you didn't do anything wrong." 

"I did. Primo's wife was the first to have snow powers like you. Now they're showing up again, in you. You and the Tenth are clearly reincarnates of Vongola Primo and his wife… you're meant for each other, and I'm selfishly interfering…" 

"That's not true, Gokudera-kun." I walked back up to him and gave him another hug. He surprisingly hugged me back. "We're not them, Gokudera-kun. Tsuna's in love with Kyoko, remember?" 

This time, I kissed Gokudera. He pulled me in closer, and we forgot about the outside world again. However, Gokudera pulled away the same way he had the first time. 

"I want to believe you, Kenzie. I really do… but I can't. Every time I see you, it gets harder and harder to control myself. I really like you. And I've wanted this for a long time. But it's wrong. That's just how it feels. I forget that when I'm with you, and only remember it after I've messed up like this. Sorry, Kenzie. But I've got to keep my distance. I've got to stop this before it gets even more out of hand." Gokudera said as he started to walk out. 

"Gokudera-kun, can I ask you one last thing before you go?" 

He hesitated, but then nodded. 

"Does it really feel wrong to you, or is it just nervousness? If it's just nervousness, it's completely natural. But if it really feels wrong, then I'll respect that." 

"I only feel that way after the fact… but, yeah… it really does feel wrong… I'm sorry…" 

"No, don't be!" I said, regaining my confidence. Gokudera was shocked at me raising my voice. "If you truly believe you're doing what is right, then you shouldn't be sorry, okay? We've all handled worse pain than this, so don't worry about me. Follow your heart, okay?" 

"O--okay… goodnight." Gokudera said before he left. I finished my water and then went back to my room and cried myself to sleep. I couldn't believe it. Things didn't have to go right for me. I could accept a little disappointment. But what I couldn't accept was having my dreams come true for only a millisecond before they were smashed into tiny little itty bitty pieces. 

I was tired the next morning, and dreading it, mainly because I'd have to face Gokudera in this state. But Kyoko, Haru, my family, and everyone in this world were counting on us. I was even more determined not to let anyone down. I was actually pissed off. It was actually the alarm that woke me up, though. I quickly threw on clothes, grabbed my gear, and met up with everyone. 

"What's going on!?" I asked Tsuna. 

"There's an enemy attack. We're moving out now, Hibari's handling it." Reborn explained. 

"Alright." I nodded. I noticed Gokudera was at Tsuna's right side, exactly where he should be. But neither of us were about to make eye contact. I was sure everyone could feel the tension, but they also knew to ignore it until after the mission. 

We made it to the shopping mall parking lot, and entered the air ducts. Bianchi lead us there, and we all said our goodbyes. 

"Wait!" I heard Lal mirch whisper in the air ducts. "There's sensors." 

"Just like we practiced, everyone." Yamamoto smiled. "We can do this." 

Lal mirch threw the device that stopped the sensors for five seconds, and we barely made it through. 

"W--what!?" Lal exclaimed. She was fist in line, right in front of me, and realized the guns were still going to fire. Yamamoto, being the amazingly skilled person he is, managed to cut the vent before the guns fired. 

Tsuna beat the crap out of the guy who manually fired the guns, and we were on our way. The next enemy we fought was Ginger Bread. Well, Lal Mirch fought him. We were all trapped behind his spider web and couldn't move a finger. 

Our plan went down the toilet after Lal was injured. Tsuna decided to take Lal's place as the decoy. Gokudera opposed this, but I let our boss do what he thought was best. The four of us continued travelling until we were separated by Irie Shoichi shifting the rooms in the base. 

"Yamamoto, grab my hand!" Gokudera exclaimed. 

"Ryohei!" I extended mine, but Ryohei couldn't grab it in time. The wall almost closed on our hands. "We've got to go. The sooner we destroy that device, the better." 

I started running through the hall. Gokudera followed me without a word. After what happened last night, it was extremely awkward when it was just the two of us. Soon enough, we found Lighning Gamma. 

"Gokudera-kun, let me handel this. You're still angry with him." I insisted. 

"And for good reason! He-"

"No excuses." I glared as I froze him. 

"How did you do that!?" Gamma asked. 

"Like this." I hissed as I ran up and tried to freeze him. I figured it wouldn't be that easy. I ended up freezing majority of the room while dodging Gamma's attacks. Whenever he tried his shot plasma, I countered with my ice burier. The only thing that made this battle hard was my limited range. Eventually, Gamma pulled out his second box, which increased his box weapon's power. "Two can play that game." 

My box, Shiro as I named it, was no ordinary Snow Polar Bear. Storm had a disassembly factor. Snow had a freezing factor. Shiro could make it snow, and a single flake touching you would freeze your entire body. Gamma found that out the hard way. 

After the battle, I unfroze Gokudera. 

"You defeated him!?" Gokudera said in shock.

"Of course I did." I said as I began to walk forward. "Our powers are very different, Gokudera-kun. I wouldn't have won without Shiro, since my range is so short. Gamma didn't know what froze him." 

Gokudera smiled a bit at my joke. I considered that progress. We continued on to the next area.

"The base is all messed up, our maps are useless. Where do we go?" I wondered. Suddenly, a door opened. 

"We've got no choice but to go this way." Gokudera walked cautiously toward the door. 

Another door opened, and the one we went through closed. This kept happening until we met up with everyone in one room. Yamamoto Ryohei were out, Chrome was in no good shape, Lambo and I-Pin were there, Kusakabe was helping the injured, and Hibari was now young Hibari. It was all because of one person: Genkishi. I was only minorly injured, and Gokudera was ready to go. But I was naïve and prone to illusions. 

"Now it's my turn." Gokudera said as he opened a box. He opened box after box, and an assortment of rings and weapons came out. "Sistema C.A.I" 

The only thing more impressive than the weapons were Gokudera's eyes. They were a beautiful blue, more vibrant than I had ever seen. I was even more in love with him than I was before, and my heart began to ache again. But I managed to get my focus back on the mission. I'd have plenty of time to eat ice cream and cry after this mission. 

As impressive as Gokudera's Sistema C.A.I was, it wasn't enough to defeat Genkishi. 

"Gokudera-kun!" I exclaimed as he was knocked to the ground. I ran up, ready to join the fight. I brought out Shiro and made it snow on top of Genkishi. 

"Foolish girl." Genkishi said. His mist slugs froze instead. He knew how Shiro's attack worked. Genkishi then charged at me with his sword. I put up a burier, but he smashed right through it and cut me down. 

"K--Kenzie!" Gokudera exclaimed. "Y--you bastard…" 

That was when Tsuna came in and kicked the crap out of Genkishi, just like he deserved. The lot of us were captured in the mean time. We woke up inside of a big tube container. 

"Tenth!" Gokudera exclaimed as he woke up. "You're okay!"

"Yeah, you too! I'm so glad everyone's alright." Tsuna smiled. 

"They won't be if you don't hand over your Vongola Ring." Irie Shoichi said. "With the push of this button, I can end their lives with a different kind of gas that will put them to sleep for good." 

"B--but…" Tsuna whimpered. 

"Don't worry about us! Fight them!" Gokudera insisted. 

"Gokudera's right, Sawada! Don't give It to them!" Lal Mirch backed him up. But Tsuna just couldn't do it. Luckily, Irie was on our side. 

I would have talked to him if I had woken up. 

He stunned the Chervello with the remote, and explained everything to us after having us released. 

"Thank you, Irie-san." I smiled and bowed to him. 

"No, thank you guys. The world would be over without you. Thank you for trusting me, too." Irie smiled and bowed back. 

And with that, our mission was complete. It wasn't a total success. We would have to come back after the Arcobaleno trials, but we did solve our mystery of how we traveled to the future, why, and how we're going to get home after defeating Byakuran. The only mystery I had yet to solve was what I was going to do about Gokudera. 

"I'm going to go take a nap. It's been a long day." I chuckled and then left for my room. I always got caught up in my thoughts when I tried to fall asleep, and now was no exception. I couldn't stop myself from crying. I wanted Gokudera to kiss me again. I wanted to smile and laugh with him again. I wanted to fight alongside him without this awkward feeling. I wanted him to put a piece of hair behind my ear again. I didn't even think being friends was possible after what happened. 

I was crying when Tsuna, Gokudera, and Yamamoto passed by. Despite the fact that I was trying to be quiet and burying my face in my pillow, they heard me. 

"Kenzie-san's crying?" Tsuna was the second to notice. Gokudera did, but didn't say anything. 

"Oh, she is." He pretended not to notice. Tsuna was going to knock on my door to talk, but Gokudera stopped him. "Tenth, she probably wants to be alone right now. That's likely why she left supper early to 'nap'. I think we should respect that." 

"But…" Tsuna sighed. 

"At least just talk to her one on one. It's easier that way. I'm going to go train a bit." Gokudera said as he left. 

"Aren't you worried about her, Gokudera?" Yamamoto frowned. Gokudera stopped in his tracks. Little did they know he was the most worried about me out of the three of them. 

"Of course I am. I'm just not going to embarrass her by bursting in while she's crying. I wouldn't want anyone to see me like that, either." Gokudera hissed as he continued walking. 

Tsuna and Yamamoto realised that Gokudera had a point. But their worry for me overpowered Gokudera's point, and they knocked. 

"Kenzie-san? Are you awake?" Tsuna asked. I dried my tears, put on a fake smile, and answered the door. 

"Oh? Tsuna, Yamamoto? What are you two doing here?" 

"Uh, we were just passing by… and heard you crying… we want to help if we can… is there… anything we can do?" Tsuna asked. 

"Oh, it was just a nightmare. Thanks for waking me up." I laughed. "I guess that ordeal gave me a bit of a shock. I was so exhausted after the battles that I fell into a deep sleep." 

I felt bad for lying, but I would have felt worse if they had worried about me. But Tsuna and his hyper-intuition weren't going to be fooled. However, they respected the fact that I wanted to be alone. 

"Well, if you ever want to talk about the nightmare, or battles, or anything, we're here for you." Tsuna smiled. 

"Right. You can come to us with anything at all." Yamamoto smiled and stepped in to give me a hug. 

"Thanks, you guys." I smiled genuinely. I hugged Tsuna next. 

"We're just down the hall, don't hesitate to ask." Yamamoto reminded me. 

"You guys, too. I'm clearly better at helping others than I am at dealing with my own problems." I chuckled. "Thanks again!" 

Then, I went to sleep for real, on a good note this time. But when I woke up, my problem was still there. I stayed in bed longer than usual, trying to figure out what to say. I wanted to smack Gokudera across the face, and have Tsuna yell at him that he loves Kyoko, not me. I wanted us to simultaneously scream that we're different people. Really, I just wanted to get that point through his thick, storm skull. But it didn't seem like that was going to happen. I wasn't going to give up, by any means. I wasn't even going to try to get over him. Finally, I decided that I'd simply pretend it didn't happen. And once Tsuna or Kyoko confessed to each other, and Gokudera was convinced they were in true love, then maybe he'd think about me that way. That was my plan for now. 

"Oh! Good morning, Kenzie-chan!" Haru smiled. 

"Morning, Haru-chan, everyone." I smiled back and sat down in my usual spot, which happened to be next to Gokudera. He could sense something was different about me. He knew Tsuna had talked to me. He thoght it might have been alone. He thought something happened. Basically everything that went through Gokudera's head was wrong. 

"I've got to get some final training in before we leave." Gokudera said, nearly as soon as I had sat down. He took his plate with him. He wasn't fooling anyone, but I pretended like he was. 

"Say 'hi' to Uri for me, Gokudera-kun." I smiled. 

"S--sure." Gokudera answered shyly as he left the room. 

"What's up with him? He's been acting weird since we got back yesterday." Ryohei noticed. I didn't realize the question had been directed at me, so Tsuna had to help me out. 

"You're the closest to him, Kenzie-san. Did something happen?" Tsuna asked. I remembered the night before the raid like a flashback. 

"You should ask Gokudera-kun." I said without looking up from my food. 

"Sorry, I thought he might have told you already, that's all." Tsuna sighed. 

"It's okay. He does normally tell me stuff. But that's over now, I'm afraid." 

"Why? What happened?" Ryohei asked. 

"It's just some stupid idea in his head. He'll grow up soon enough, I hope." 

The girls knew exactly what was going on. 

"Hey, Kenzie-chan, could Haru and I talk to you in private after breakfast?" Kyoko smiled.

That was when I knew my cover had been blown. 

"S--sure." I smiled back, knowing I couldn't avoid it. Tsuna could tell I wasn't lying, but I also wasn't willing to tell anyone but them. 

After breakfast, the girls and I cleaned up, then sat down with some tea. 

"Are you alright, Kenzie-chan?" Haru took my hand and asked. I was near breaking point again because of the question. 

"Y--yeah, I will be. But I'm just… a little heartbroken right now, to be honest…" I sighed. 

"You can tell us, if you want." Kyoko smiled and took my other hand. "We're here for you." 

"Thank you." I smiled, and told them the whole story. They knew about my crush on Gokudera without me telling them, but I only said that Gokudera thinks, for some reason that's dumb, that Tsuna and I are meant for each other. 

"O--oh? He does?" Kyoko sighed. 

"But he's the only one that thinks that, Kyoko." I smiled to assure her. "The rest of us know who Tsuna is really destined for."

Haru luckily didn't see me wink at Kyoko. Kyoko smiled, knowing I was talking about her. 

"That stupid Gokudera. Why does he think that?" Haru growled. 

"Beats me." I shrugged my shoulders. It was the truth, too. I really didn’t fully understand why Gokudera could make an important decision based off of our ring elements. It was dumb. 

"You know what you should do?" Kyoko asked. 

"I've been thinking about that, and I think I'm just going to stick to being his friend. They say if you love someone, let them go. If they come back to you, they're yours. If Gokudera is using this as a test, and wants me to come back to him, then I'll stay by his side and come back when we're a little older. And if he's not, I'll stay by his side until he's ready to come back to me." 

"I think you're going to make him fall in love with you all over again." Kyoko giggled. 

"What?" I asked. 

"Isn't it obvious? He kissed you, right? And you were only his friend until then, right?" Haru smiled. 

"Right."

"Then, obviously, being his friend will counteract all his attempts to fall out of love with you. And, eventually, he'll give up, and accept his feelings." 

"Yeah, ten years from now." I laughed. Kyoko and Haru laughed with me at the stellar joke I just made. 

"So, it's settled then! You guys already have a good foundation to your relationship as friends. If you keep strengthening that and strengthening that, then when you do start a romantic relationship, it'll never ever crumble!" Haru beamed. These girls were the best, they cheered me right up. 

"Until then, we'll be your shoulders to cry on, okay? I know it's hard, liking someone who you can't be in a relationship with. But just being by them, even as friends, can help. It may not always be enough, but that's what we're here for. Call us anytime, Kenzie-chan." Kyoko smiled. 

"You girls, too. I'll be there for you just like you are for me, I promise." 

We all linked pinkies and giggled. This was the quality girl time I was lacking. I was getting ready to go home when there was another knock at my door. 

"Please don't be Tsuna, please don't be Tsuna, please don't be Tsuna, please don't be Tsuna…" I pleaded. The last thing I needed was to talk to someone I couldn't put on a fake smile around beause they'd know I was lying. I opened the door to Lila. "Lila-chan!" 

"How are you, Kenzie-neechan?" Lila asked as she gave me a big hug. 

"I'm good! And you?" I lied. 

"I'm alright. Things are pretty crazy, with all of our enemies and everything. It's been like this for a while. But Fuuta-kun makes everything better. He's my rock whenever things get too intense. We never seem to be down at the same time. Whenever he's not himself, I always bring him back. And whenever anything is wrong with me, Fuuta-kun makes evreything alright. We're a team, like you and Gokudera-niichan." 

"I'm glad to hear it." 

"I heard from the girls. You're not really okay, are you?" 

Once again, I was caught red-handed. 

"No, I'm not. It's so weird. Gokudera-kun and I both love each other, but he's stupid enough to think something as dumb as flames and x-gloves get between us. Just because of those things, I'm automatically the reincarnate of Vongola Primo's wife and I have to marry Tsuna because he's Primo's reincarnate. He doesn't have any evidence, and at this point in time, any brains." 

"But you're doing the best thing you can do. He fell in love with you when you were his best friend, and he'll never be able to fall out of love with you if you stay that way." 

"I know. But it's hard. Things are so awkward between us now. As soon as I sat down for breakfast, he left. He doesn't even want to be near me. How am I supposed to stay his friend?" 

"Don't say that, Kenzie-neechan! Gokudera-niichan loves you! I'd be surprised if he could go one full day without seeing you!" 

"Well, the day's almost up." I sighed. 

"Kenzie-neechan, he'll be here soon. I promise. And if he's not, I'll smack him for you." 

That got a laugh out of us. 

"In all seriousness, I know Gokudera is trying to do what's best for me. And Tsuna. But it's just so dumb, at the same time. He's doing the wrong things for the right reasons. And that's really frustrating me because I can't just start hating him and forgetting about him and getting over him, but I also can't be with him. I'm in a lose-lose situation here, Lila-chan." 

"But you're going to win." 

"Are you allowed to tell me the future?" 

"I'm not. By 'win' I mean that you'll be happy. With or without Gokudera-niichan, you win." 

"Thank you, Lila-chan." I smiled and gave her a hug. We then headed to supper together. 

"Feeling better?" Gokudera asked. 

"Yeah, thank you." I smiled. 

Then, it was time for us to travel home. We all headed back to the Millefiore base and were transported ten years in the past. We all went to drop each other off. In the end, it was just Gokudera and I. 

"Gokudera-kun… I think we need to talk…" I sighed, dreading the awkwardness. 

"I was afraid you'd say that…" Gokudera sighed, too. That didn't make me feel any better. "I didn't mean to hurt you, Kenzie. I shouldn't have kissed you, especially since I knew what had to happen." 

"It doesn't have to be like that. Kyoko-chan and Tsuna are going to get married. I know they both like each other, it's clear as day to me." 

"We're just kids. We don't know what's going on. That's why I think it's better to leave things as they are instead of moving forward too quickly." 

"Now that makes sense. You should have said that. I would have understood right away." 

"Sorry. But it was hard to think on the spot like that." 

"Are you sure about this, Gokudera-kun? I don't want to pressure you, but I'm not going to go down without a fight, either. I'll leave the subject alone if you say you're one hundred percent positive that this is the right decision." 

"I know the Tenth would forgive me if anything happened. He's that kind of guy. But I'm not going to take advantage of that and do it just because I know I can get away with it. So, yeah… I'm sorry, but I'm sure this is for the best."

"Okay, then." I smiled and went along with it. The rest of the trip to Gokudera's house was quiet. When we finally got there, we went out separate ways. "See you around, Gokudera-kun."

"See you, Kenzie." Gokudera smiled a bit and waved. I hung my head as I walked back. Gokudera was wrong. I was meant for him, not Tsuna. He was being really dumb. And not only did it hurt me, but it was hurting him, too. I could see it in his eyes, hear it in his voice, and feel it in the aura he was giving out. Gokudera was suffering as much as I was. And we were both hurting for absolutely no good reason, and that was the part that truly pissed me off. 

I went home, had a reunion with my parents, and then went up to my room. I didn't know which I wanted to do more, cry or punch a hole in the wall. I decided punching a hole in the wall wouldn't do me much good, but I could release that same energy through training. So, I went for a run. I happened to bump into Ryohei. 

"Oh, Kenzie, huh? Perfect day for some roadwork, isn't it?" Ryohei smiled. 

"Yeah, it is." I agreed. 

"What's wrong?" 

"Wrong? Nothing's wrong." I lied. 

"Octopus-head again, huh?" 

I was caught red handed again. 

"No sense dwelling on it. There's really nothing I can do. He's made his choice, and I've just got to get used to it. Even if it's the dumbest thing he's done since he tried to bomb Tsuna." 

"Yeah, if it's making you feel like that, it's extremely dumb. And Octopus-head hasn't been himself, either. What's the point in whatever he's doing if the both of you think it sucks?" 

"I know, Ryohei." I laughed, because even Ryohei understood what I was mad about. "It's Gokudera who needs to hear that. But, he just won't listen to me. Anything I say goes in one ear and out the other. Anyway, I didn't mean to interrupt your exercise. Sorry, Ryohei." 

"No problem. See ya!" Ryohei said and was on his way. He actually switched his route and went to visit Octopus-head… I mean, Gokudera. "Yo! Octopus-head!" 

"Turf top? What are you doing here?" Gokudera asked as he opened the door. Ryohei could see Lila watching Frozen again, so they went into Gokudera's bedroom to talk.

"We need to talk. Now." Ryohei came in, and the boys sat down to chat. 

"What's this about? The Arcobaleno Trials?" 

"No, Kenzie. What's going on? You need to explain." Ryohei said. Gokudera went red at first. 

"I don't need to explain anything to you! If you're not going to talk about anything important, go home, turf top!" Gokudera blew up. 

"So, Kenzie's not important, huh?" Ryohei growled. That caught Gokudera's attention. 

"Of course she is! She's one of us, our friend. But that's it." 

Ryohei now understood what was going on. 

"Are you too scared to make a move?" 

"No, you dumbass! She's got snow flames! The only other person who's had snow flames is Primo's wife! If Primo's reincarnate is the Tenth, and his wife's reincarnate is Kenzie, then they're meant for each other. And I'm not going to screw that up for the Tenth." 

Ryohei burst out laughing. 

"What's so funny!?" Gokudera burst. 

"How wrong you are! Sawada is going to marry Kyoko! I can tell how much she likes him. And I know Sawada would take good care of her."

"They're fourteen! They're just kids, like us! For all we know, the Tenth and Kyoko could end up with different people. And I'm not going to mess up the Tenth's chances with Kenzie." 

Ryohei laughed again. "Octopus-head, you don't get it. Sawada, Kyoko, and the rest of us aren't ordinary kids. You have a point, nothing is set in stone. Except for our bonds. No matter how hard you try, you'll never break the bond you have with Kenzie. It's become unbreakable because of what you've gone through together. You've fought side by side, protecting each other. You've been through hell and back together. Do you honestly think your feelings for Kenzie will go away?" 

"Of course not." 

"Then why do you think her feelings for you would? Or Sawada and Kyoko's feelings for each other? Right now, Kyoko and Sawada have the same feelings for each other that you and Kenzie do. And none of those feelings are ever going to change. You know yours won't, and now you know they're the same as Sawada's feelings for Kyoko. Logically, you'd have to conclude that Sawada's feelings for Kyoko will never change." 

That gave Gokudera something to think about. Did Tsuna really have the same feelings for Kyoko that Gokudera did for me? Was their bond really as unbreakable as ours was? Gokudera knew it was possible, but it still wasn't enough. 

"That does make sense, turf top. I'll think about it." Gokudera said. 

"Good, I've made progress. I'd better get home before Kyoko starts to worry." Ryohei said as he got ready to leave. 

"Thanks, turf top." 

"Any time, octopus-head." 

And with that, Gokudera went back to thinking. In the end, he decided that if Tsuna ended up marrying Kyoko, he would propose to me, if I still wanted him. What Ryohei had said hadn't ruled out the possibility of Tsuna and I being meant for each other, but if Tsuna married someone else, that would. Tsuna would never marry someone he wasn't meant for, even if they were the reincarnation of his wife from a past life. So, if he did, that means that the reincarnations of husband and wife simply weren't meant for each other in this life, or we weren't really reincarnations at all. Either way, Gokudera wouldn't be free until he could prove Tsuna and I weren't meant for each other. 

Meanwhile, I'd also done some thinking. I had gotten my answer. I was not going to play any funky tricks or try to convince Gokudera of anything. I was simply going to be his best friend. Because, as Kyoko and Haru had said, that's how he fell for me in the first place, and I hoped they were right when they said being his best friend would keep him in love with me until Tsuna was out of the picture. Because I knew I was never going to fall out of love with Gokudera. 

The next few days, the Arcobaleno trials happened. I didn't happen to participate in any of them but Wendy,Reborn, and Verde's. Like Gokudera, I was in the wrong place at the time the trials happened. But every time I saw my ring glow, I couldn't help but smile. 

Wendy, the Arcobaleno of Snow, had her trial third from last. 

"Hello, Gokudera-kun." Wendy smiled as she hopped on Gokudera's shoulder. 

"Is this your trial?" Gokudera began to get excited, hoping he could help in this one. 

"Yes, it is. I'll need you to meet me at the Namimori Shrine at four o'clock today. No sooner, no later. You'll be participating in it then." 

"Alright, will do." Gokudera agreed. 

"I'd like you there by 3:45, Tsunayoshi-kun." Wendy said after she'd hopped on his shoulder. 

"Got it." Tsuna said. 

I happened to be having lunch with the girls, so I wasn't notified until later. My time to come was also four o'clock.

Tsuna arrived fifteen minutes before Gokudera and I, as instructed. 

"Thank you for coming, Tsunayoshi-kun." Wendy smiled and bowed. "Are you aware of what is going on between Gokudera-kun and Kenzie-chan?" 

"I think so. I know that they both have feelings for each other, if that's what you're talking about." 

"Partially correct. Do you know why they're not together despite their feelings?" 

"N--no…" Tsuna sighed. 

"It's because of Primo and his wife. Gokudera believes that you are Primo's reincarnate and that Kenzie is Primo's wife's reincarnate, because she is the only one with snow flames and you have Primo's x-gloves." 

"That's why they're acting like that?!" 

"Yes. For your trial, you have to solve their problem." 

"Eh?! How am I supposed to do that?" 

"Any way you want. There is a three hour time limit. The only rule is that you can't tell them what you're doing. We're going to act like you have to solve this problem before the trial starts, okay? If these two don't walk away hand-in-hand by then, you fail."

"What!? How can you expect that to happen in just three hours!? How can you force something like that!? Isn't this too personal to be a trial?" 

"I have faith in you, Tsunayoshi-kun. I know you'll pass this trial." 

That was when Gokudera and I showed up.

"Hi, Tenth." Gokudera smiled.

"Hey, everyone." I smiled, trying to hide my nervousness. 

"Alright, my trial is going to begin now." 

"Can we have some time before we start, Wendy? I have something to take care of." Tsuna played along, knowing the trial had begun.

"Sure." Wendy smiled. 

"Okay, for this trial, we'll obviously have to work as a team. To do that, we need to solve your issue."

"Tsuna, there is no issue." I half-lied. 

"Tenth, there's absolutely nothing that's going to get in the way of us completing these trials. We can forget about anything long enough to complete this. We can talk about this after." Gokudera insisted. 

"Will forgetting really help? Instead of forgetting about a problem, you should try to solve it. Don't you think?" 

"Trust me, Tsuna, I've tried. Gokudera-kun and I can work like a well-oiled machine together. We proved that. Can't we just get on with the trial?" I sighed. 

"She's right, Tenth. We're too mature to let something like this jeopardize our future." Gokudera agreed. "We should start the trial." 

"Okay, then." Wendy said. "Prove your teamwork to us. If you two can pin Tsunayoshi-kun down for ten seconds, I'll let you two take my trial without your boss, whether he thinks your ready for it or not." 

That was my red flag. Gokudera found it strange, too, I could tell. 

"Without the Tenth? He's been in every one of them so far? His ring collected all the seals. Isn't this a process for accepting him as the boss?" Gokudera-kun wondered.

"Everything about this trial has been weird so far." Tsuna agreed. 

"We've been tricked, Gokudera-kun, Tsuna. The trial was finding that out, right, Wendy?" I asked. 

"Right." Wendy giggled as she sat on my shoulder. "Tsunayoshi-kun, you figured out that something was off rather quickly. You already felt that this wasn't a suitable trial. However, you didn't stand up to me. Gokudera-kun, you also figured out something was wrong. But, just like your boss, you didn't stand up to me and reject this as a trial. You didn't even scream at me for possibly taking Tsunayoshi-kun out of the trial. And, finally, Kenzie-chan. You saw through my trick and you figured out this trial was not what I said it was. This trial was a trial of intelligence. You passed because you figured out the true intent of my trial. Tsunayoshi-kun and Gokudera-kun, you both need to be more intuitive and questioning, like Kenzie-chan. Thanks to her, you pass." 

Tsuna held out his ring and received the arcobaleno's seal from Wendy. 

"I'm also proud of you because, despite your relationship troubles, the two of you can put that aside and work for the greater good." Wendy praised Gokudera and I. "I'll be off now. I suggest you eventually do solve it like Tsuna was trying to get you to do. Sooner rather than later." 

"See you guys later!" Tsuna smiled as he left, instead of walking with us like he normally would. That was when I was convinced that Tsuna and Wendy were totally shipping us. 

"Don't let them force you into anything, Gokudera-kun. You've made your decision, and I'll respect it." I said, even though I thought it was a stupid-ass decision. 

"I just want you to know that…" Gokudera was about to tell me how he wanted to be with me, and would if he could. But he thought that would only interfere more with my relationship with Tsuna. "…that nothing is going to change." 

"Right… I get that…" I sighed. Gokudera hated seeing me sad, but it was what had to be done. Or so he thought. But then, his thoughts changed. Thanks to Ryohei, he had hope. He considered the situation Ryohei had suggested, and if he and I really were going to end up with each other, there was no harm in making me happy in the meantime. 

"What I mean is, how I feel about you isn't going to change." He smiled. Gokudera's smile always melted my heart, right after making it skip a beat. I couldn't help but smile from ear to ear. 

"And one day, you'll know that the same goes for me." 

"I wish I knew what the future held. If it turns out I'm wrong, I'm going to kick myself so hard for wasting all this time and causing you all this pain. But if it turns out I'm right, I'm going to be so thankful I did." 

"And… what if we started dating now. Hypothetically, if that happened, but it turned out I am Tsuna's future wife, what would you do?" 

"I don't want to think about it. That's the absolute worst case scenario." 

"Then, it's decided. We won't bring this up until we know the future." 

"So, we wait?" 

"We wait."

"Thank you for being so understanding." Gokudera smiled and hugged me. 

"Any time, Gokudera. At first, this was such a weird thing for me to think about. 'I like you, you like me, what's the problem?'. I thought you were being stupid and immature. I still think that basing this simply on the fact that I have the same flame as Primo's wife and Tsuna has the same weapon as Primo is dumb. However, you have a point in the end. We don't know the future. The more we talk about this, the more I start to understand where you're coming from. Thank you for not closing yourself off and completely shutting me out. We would have ended up mad at each other if you hadn't helped me to understand." 

"Any time. So, should we have another slumber party? I'm sure Lila-chan missed us the past few days." Gokudera suggested. 

"Absolutely!" I smiled. But it just wasn't the same. Once Lila had fallen asleep, it was hard to keep a conversation going. It was a tense atmosphere, too. But I wasn't about to go home. I wouldn't miss even the awkward moments with Gokudera for the world. We ended up falling asleep quicker than usual and were woken up by Lila the next morning. 

The next day, we failed Reborn's trial. The day after that, we passed Verde's, resulting in us passing Reborn's, too. The day after that, we left. 

"Gokudera-niichan, Kenzie-neechan, how long will you be gone for this time?" Lila asked sadly. 

"Hopefully just a day or two, at most." Gokudera smiled and gave her a hug. 

"We'll come home as quick as we can." I promised as we dropped Lila off at Nana's. Then, we went to meet everyone at the shrine. "I'm so glad we get to come back here and see Lila-chan this age again. I don't like it when she's older than us." 

"Me, neither." Gokudera laughed. "I can't help but wonder about her family, though." 

"Well, I can answer the vast majority of questions you have on that. Her siblings at least." 

"What!? Really!?" 

"Try me." 

"Okay. What were her siblings like?" 

"Her older brother had a short fuse. But he always means well. Her big sister is an absolute angel, if I do say so myself. Together, they're an unstoppable team who've tackled many obstacles. She's actually got plenty of siblings, mainly older. The only ones younger than her are a boy who dresses like a cow and a girl who like garlic and blowing up whenever one of her older brothers shows up." 

"You're right." Gokudera smiled and put his arm around me. "We are her family. Her biological mother and father abandoned her when they first saw her snow power. They're not family, let alone her parents. And Lila-chan's never even asked about them, and we've never seen her homesick." 

"We must be doing a pretty good job then." I giggled. 

"I'm sorry that nothing has been the same since that night…" Gokudera sighed. "There's pretty well always awkwardness in the air, and--"

"Stop it, Gokudera-kun. This isn't your fault." I said firmly. The more he apologized and the worse he felt, the more I wanted to help. But there was nothing I could do, so I just smiled at him. "Besides, I'd much rather spend time with you and have it be a little awkward than never get to see you." 

Gokudera wanted to tell me he felt the same. But that wouldn't help me get over him, so he didn't.

That was when we arrived at the shrine. 

"Hey, everyone." I smiled. 

"Hey!" Reborn hopped on my shoulder. "Everyone's here, let's go!" 

We traveled back to the future, then back to our base. Things were better when we went back. Gokudera didn't avoid me, which was the main reason. We trained again for Choice this time. We used air bikes, trained with our box weapons, and such. 

I had just finished my training for the day when I passed the room Gokudera was training in. He was burnt to a crisp and fuming at Lambo and Ryohei. I couldn't help but laugh. 

"How are you?" I asked once Ryohei and Lambo had left. 

"How do I look?" He laughed. 

"Pretty beaten up. Are you alright?" 

"Yeah, I'm good. They're making process, in the rare moments when they're not torturing me. I am, too, little by little. How about you?" 

"I have another best friend." I smiled and looked at my white Vongola Box. 

"Glad to hear it." Gokudera smiled. "Are you nervous for tomorrow at all?" 

"Of course I am. We all are. But I know we'll all be okay." 

"You're not putting on a fake smile, are you?" He asked in a serious tone. He wiped it right off my face. 

"No, of course not." I put it back on. I wasn't scared for myself, just for them. The enemies didn't scare me, the thought of losing anyone did. As well as the unknown about how this battle would go. But just like the Sky Match against the Varia, we would all be together, and when we were all together, we could never lose. 

"You can still talk to me about these things. I mean, to any of us, the Tenth included." 

That's when it hit me. I found it weird the first time he suggested that I could confide in Tsuna, but now it made perfect sense. He'd thought from the very beginning that Tsuna and I were meant for each other. 

"Thank you, Gokudera-kun. I'm counting on you." I smiled and gave him a hug. "Are you nervous for tomorrow?" 

"Just for everyone's safety." 

"Same here. Get a good night's sleep. We'll all need to be in top condition tomorrow." 

I slept like a baby that night, thankfully. The next day, we arrived at the field. It was a huge city with reinforced buildings so we wouldn't break them easily. But we broke them anyway. #thuglife. 

When Tsuna spun the wheel to determine who would be participating, he had 2 ringless, 1 sky, 1 storm, 1 rain, and 1 snow. When Byakuran spun it, he had 1 rain, 1 sun, 2 mist, and 1 cloud. We were pretty well opposites. 

We were all so thankful that Byakuran wasn't participating. 

"Are you alright, Kenzie?" Gokudera asked. 

"I'm good." I smiled. But in reality, I was nervous. "How are you?" 

"Ready to kick ass." He smiled. It gave me some more confidence. 

"We'll be using the Target rules." Byakuran announced. 

"One person from each team will be selected as the target randomly. Once the target of the team is taken out, they lose." Shouichi explained.

Two flames spat out of the machine. One was pinned on the mist user, Saru. The other was pinned on me. I fell to the floor. 

"Kenzie! Are you alright?" Gokudera asked. 

"Y--yeah…" I lied. It hurt. It felt like my energy was being drained. 

"What did you do!?" Shouichi exclaimed. 

"I did nothing. The target has to use deathperation flames to light it."

"Alight, here's what we're going to do?" Shouichi began. "Kenzie-chan and Gokudera-kun, you're on defence. Tsunayoshi-kun and Yamamoto-kun, you'll go find the target. Spanner and I will make decoys of Kenzie-chan's target to distract the enemy." 

We did as we were told. Tsuna took out Torikabuto for the time being, Kikyo was on his way here, Yamamoto was fighting Bluebell trying to get to the burier which Saru was behind, and Daisy was taking out decoys. 

Gokudera took my hand. "You have nothing to be worried about, Kenzie. I won't let anything happen to you. I promise." 

"I'm not scared, Gokudera-kun. But thank you. I know you won't." I smiled and squeezed his hand. 

"O-ho? What a cute couple we have here." Kikyo said. 

"Fire!" Shouichi said as he attacked Kikyo with all the firepower they could fit in the base. It didn't have any effect. 

Gokudera was about to open his boxes for Sistema CAI, but they were all being kept shut by Kikyo's flowers. I managed to open mine. 

"Shiro, make it snow!" I exclaimed. Kikyo was momentarily frozen, but he broke out of it, and struck down Shiro. Now it was time for my Vongola Box. "Let's go, Joy." 

Out of my Vongola Box came a beautiful white Snow Wolf. 

"What am I supposed to do, pet it?" Kikyo laughed. 

"No. This girl's name is Joy. But, after seeing her attack, I debated giving her another name. Storm. Now, Joy, let's show him why." 

Kikyo was caught up in a wizard of a blizzard. 

"Gokudera-kun, can you see him?" I asked. 

"Yeah." Gokudera said as he took aim. He got a direct hit on Kikyo. We did an epic high five after. "Don't mess with the storms." 

"I certainly hope you have more tricks up your sleeve. Otherwise, this will be over too quickly for Byakuran-sama's liking." Kikyo said. He came out with a few marks, but nothing major." 

Kikyo attacked me, but I managed to defend myself with ice buriers. He soon realized that he was getting nowhere fast. So, he attacked the defenceless Gokudera-kun with all the power he had. I quickly jumped in front of him and put up an ice burier. Kikyo's attacks just kept coming, and I didn't have enough time to make more buriers. Within seconds, despite my efforts trying to re-inforce my buriers, they were broken, and I was hit. Kikyo stopped, knowing he got what he wanted. 

"Kenzie! Kenzie, are you aright!?" Gokudera exclaimed as he picked me up. He started to run with me away from Kikyo. "Kenzie, talk to me!" 

"G--Gokudera…kun… Y--you're… ok…" I smiled. "I… I'm sorry… tell L--Lila-chan… and my fam… family that… I love them." 

"You can do that yourself. I'm going to save you, and we're going to go back to the past, and--"

"I… I love you… Gokudera-kun…" 

"I love you, too." Gokudera began to cry. That was the last thing I remember before I blacked out. "Which is why I'm not going to stop until you're safe. No matter what."

Within a minute, the flame on my marker had gone out. 

"K--Kenzie… Kenzie, wake up! Kenzie, you're going to be okay, you have to be!" Gokudera cried. The Chervello came and confirmed that my target was out. But there was hope. Markers go out at less than 2% life energy. I could still be saved. And saved I was, by Yuni. 

Yuni managed to approve Shouichi's request for a rematch. We escaped thanks to Rokudo Mukuro. Gokudera was at my side the entire time. I was unconscious for all of it, but hearing the story after made me 99.9% sure that Gokudera had forgotten about his rediculous theory and focused only on me. 

When I woke up, we were in Shouichi's lab again. The first thing I saw was Gokudera. 

"G--Gokudera-kun?" I asked. 

"Kenzie!" He beamed as he hugged me. "I'm so glad you're okay! I knew you would be!" 

I enjoyed the hug for a moment before asking. "What's going on? How is everyone else?" 

"Everyone's fine." Shouichi answered. "We lost choice. But Yuni, the Sky Arcobaleno, and the old second boss of the Milefiore Family, is on our side. She saved us. We're going to protect her and the pacifiers. Before our final battle with Byakuran, I'm sending you guys back once more to the past. You'll get inheritance from Vongola Primo's family." 

"Primo's!?" I exclaimed in awe. "How?" 

"Reborn-san has it all figured out, I'm sure. He left early." Gokudera explained. He wasn't smiling anymore, which caught me off guard. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you… you almost died because of me…" 

"You dumbass, it was because of Kikyo!" I assured him. "Look, you don't have the weight of the world on your shoulders, you know. You take responsibility for everything, and think that you alone have to save everyone. Many people are alive because of you, Gokudera. Many more people than are dead because of you. You're doing the best you can, and you never give up. We can't ask any more of you, or anyone else, for that matter." 

"I… I know… but…" Gokudera sighed. "Nevermind." 

That was when I figured out what was going through Gokudera's head. He felt responsible for keeping me alive. It was his duty to protect me, according to him. It was the same way a boyfriend would feel about his girlfriend. Gokudera might not have noticed it, but he subconsciously treated me like his girlfriend, and considered me that. 

We were soon transported back to the past again. We picked up Lila from Nana's and went back to Gokudera's house. That night, we met Primo's Guardians. The image of a beautiful woman with snow white hair in pigtails, who couldn't have been any older than 25, appeared. 

"Hey! It's nice to meet you! I'm Alice!" The woman said. 

"It's nice to meet you, too. I'm Kenzie." I smiled.

"I'm Vongola Primo's wife and Guardian of Snow. I assume you're Vongola Decimo's Guardian of Snow?" 

"I am! And I have a question for you." 

"I'm sorry, that'll have to wait. We’ve got orders to keep all info on a need-to-know basis, and there's nothing you need to know now except for this. We have to give you our trials in a certain order. Always be prepared to take yours. And always have your Vongola Box on you. Good luck!" 

Then, she disappeared. 

"Geez." I groaned. 

We went on with our lives normally, until one day Gokudera wasn't Gokudera. I noticed immediately. Tsuna noticed his voice had changed, but not that it wasn't Gokudera at all. I ditched school right then and there to go find him. I didn't sense any danger from the imposter, plus Yamamoto was with Tsuna. The two of them could take anyone on. I ended up finding Gokudera running around a park like a madman. 

"Gokudera-kun, what are you doing?" I laughed. 

"I'm looking for that stupid cat!" Gokudera growled. 

"He's on top of the slide." 

"Eh!?" 

"Right there." 

"Damnit, Uri!" Gokudera finally caught his cat. "We'd better get to class before it starts without us." 

"It's already lunch, Gokudera-kun." I chuckled. "I came looking for you when you didn't show up at school." 

"He didn't show up?" The arcoaleno, Fon, asked as he hopped on my shoulder. 

"No. Well… yeah, not really." I laughed. Fon knew what I meant. I said it like that so I didn't freak Gokudera out and make him think some imposter is trying to assassinate Tsuna. "We can catch the second half of the day, though. Let's go, Gokudera-kun." 

"If we have to…" Gokudera sighed. He wasn't school's biggest fan. I debated skipping, but the wills of Vongola Primo's family were watching us now, and we wouldn't want them to think we're delinquints. As it turned out, the imposter was G in Gokudera's form. He helped Gokudera to realize what kind of a right hand man he had become, and how to change himself into the right hand man he wanted to be. But, once again, the will disappeared before I could ask my question. I didn't get a chance to ask at any of the other inheritances either. 

Finally, the time came for me to have my inheritance. It was actually just after we defeated Daemon Spade. Gokudera, Lila, and I were watching Frozen again when she showed up. 

"Hey again, Kenzie-chan!" Alice smiled. 

"Is it time for my trial, Alice-san?" 

"Alice-san? Oh no, dear, you can call me Ali-chan!" 

"Alright, Ali-chan." I giggled. 

"But yes, it's time. However, this won't be something you need to participate in, Kenzie-chan." Alice said as she walked over to Lila. "Lila-chan, right?" 

"Yeah! That's me!" Lila smiled. 

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Lila-chan. I'm Alice." 

"Nice to meet you, too, Alice-neechan!" 

"Alice-neechan, she's so sweet!" Alice smiled and gave Lila a hug. "Anyway, Lila-chan, what do you think of Kenzie-chan?" 

"Kenzie-neechan is awesome! She always is lots of fun to play with! I love having slumber parties with her and Gokudera-niichan!" 

"How did you meet Kenzie-chan?" 

"Uh… I was supposed to get a ring for Xanxus-niichan, but I ended up giving it to Kenzie-neechan. Mean old Xanxus-niichan left me, so Gokudera-niichan and Kenzie-neechan and Nana-chan have been taking care of me ever since." 

"So you like Kenzie-chan?" 

"I love Kenzie-neechan!" 

"Good! I can tell she loves you, too!" Alice pat her on the head and turned to Gokudera-kun. "Gokudera-kun, what do you think of Kenzie-chan?" 

That was something I already knew, but despite that, I couldn't wait to hear the answer. 

"Uh… well…" Gokudera went red in the face. "She's a very kind person. She's always happy-go-lucky and generally carefree. She tries to make the best of every situation. She puts on a brave face even when she's crying on the inside. She's strong. I've only met one other person as kind, and strong as her, although Kenzie is still happier than him. The best thing about Kenzie is that she can make the worst situation seem like a blessing in disguise. She's understanding and selfless, too. She's always putting others first." 

"Awe, that's so sweet! How did you two meet?" 

Gokudera winced remembering it. 

"Uh… she asked me about the mafia… and I threw her against a wall and… and screamed at her…" 

Alice fell to the floor laughing. 

"How'd you come back from that, Gokudera-kun? You must be something very special to have earned her trust after that." 

"I've done nothing." 

"Liar." I chuckled. "This guy's too modest when he needs to give himself more credit." 

"Well, I'm off to see the rest of your friends. Later!" 

And with that, she disappeared again. 

"So is the entire trial her going around asking other people what they think of you?" 

"Gee, I hope she doesn't ask the Varia!" I laughed. "If she heard I was a piece of trash, I don't know if I'd pass. Ooh, that rhymed!" 

"You dummy." Gokudera chuckled. 

"Takes one to know one." I stuck my tongue out at him. 

"Okay, now you're in for it!" Gokudera smiled and chucked a pillow at me. 

"Ohhhhhhhh, you are going down, son!" I beamed and threw one back. Lila joined in, and we had a family pillow fight, which tuckered little Lila out.

Meanwhile, Alice was busy interviewing people about me. 

"Kenzie-san is always helping me out. She could have partnered up with Kyoko or Hana sometimes, but she always let her mark suffer in order to bring mine up. It's no different now. She's always putting her life on the line for us. She never shows us her crying face. We heard her in tears one night, but when we knocked on the door, she answered it with a smile like nothing was wrong and lied so we wouldn't worry. Instead of battling a little seven year old girl named Lila for the Vongola Ring of Snow, she just talked to her. Lila wanted to make Xanxus happy, and Kenzie-san let her know that making me Vongola Tenth would make Xanxus happy. She has faith that I would be so good of a boss that I could bring happiness to everyone in the Vongola, including my ex-opponents. A lot more faith than I've ever had in myself. Kenzie-san is always smiling and worrying about others, not herself. She's told me that she's better at helping others with their problems than solving her own. One time, she was confronted with a choice. There was a man we were supposed to kill. But Kenzie said that the blinding factor of snow was not meant to be force or anything like that. We were supposed to make that man forget about all his reasons for fighting us. We were supposed to talk him out of his evil ways and convince him to join us. She was dead set on trying that, despite the risks, before attacking him. In the end, I think she's right. The duty of the Guardian of Snow is to freeze and blind opponents in a white winter storm to minimize damage to the family. But by freezing, they mean getting them to stop attacking long enough to sit down for a chat. An by blinding opponents to minimize damage, they mean convincing them to switch sides and fight for good by making them only see the good and forget about the bad. Overall, she's a wonderufl, happy, selfless, person. Why do you ask?" Was Tsuna's response. 

"Kenzie is really nice! She's brought me sweets and is a great babysitter! I love playing with her! She always lets me have the best toys!" Was Lambo's response. 

"Very good person. So kind. One of my favourite people to play with!" Was I-Pin's response. 

"Kenzie-nee is ranked number one in the happiest mafioso category! I see her around a lot, and she's got the nicest hugs. She's also ranked number one in the most likely to marry Hayato-nii category. I've tried to tell Hayato-nii that, but he said he needs something factual, not just probable, whatever that means. Anyway, Kenzie-neechan is super nice!" Was Fuuta's response. 

"I approve of that girl dating my younger brother. Although, I don't think Hayato realizes himself yet that they're meant for each other. Not that he'd talk to me if he did. I know Kenzie would be a good mother, based on how well they're taking care of Lila-chan together." Was Bianchi's response. 

"Kenzie always tries to take things on by herself. I wish she'd let us help. But at the same time, I feel like she's strong enough to take on whatever is thrown her way. Tsuna, Gokudera, and I saw her crying one night. But when we knocked on the door to try to help her, we were greeted with a smile. She also has pretty well adopted a cute little girl named Lila when she was abandoned by her parents. Kenzie is a mystery because she can be so happy and childish and fun, yet when push comes to shove, she can raise a child and save lives fighting. Gokudera's a lucky guy, and soon enough he'll realize it." Was Yamamoto's response. 

"Kenzie is so nice to the extreme! She deserves to be super happy! But the thing is, she's already super happy around all of us! I don't know how she can get any happier, but she deserves to! The coolest thing about Kenzie is that one moment she's all 'hugs and rainbows and happiness' and the next she's all 'you hurt my friends, I'll kick your butts to the extreme!'! She reminds me of my little sister, Kyoko. They're friends, and I always hear Kyoko talking about how much fun she has with Kenzie! And whenever Kenzie isn't happy, which is like, never, she doesn't show it! She's extremely good at forgetting everything but the good things and making others happy!" Was Gokudera's extreme response. 

"I haven't known her very long, but she's been a good friend to me. She got me to come out of my room when nobody else could. The entire group of people have shown me kindness, but Kenzie-san has helped me through many things in my life. She's a good friend of mine. Just seeing Kenzie-san happy makes me happy." Was Chrome's response. 

It was such a big shocker that Hibari didn't say a word when he was asked. 

Then, just after we had put Lila to bed, Alice returned. 

"Well, hello again, you guys." Alice smiled. "What'd I miss?" 

"Just one of the best Disney movies not made by Disney and Pixar." I giggled. 

"Ooh! I love Disney movies, too!" Alice smiled. "I could talk about them all day! But, I've got to get back to Primo soon, so here we go. Kenzie-chan, from what I've heard, you're kind, loving, selfless, dependable, a storm, very happy, a good future mother, and you've got some interesting rankings from Fuuta-chan. You should go check them out." Alice giggled. 

Gokudera blushed, knowing what she was talking about. 

"On top of that, you embody the snow perfectly. One minute you're a blanket of snow falling on Christmas morning. But when your friends are in danger, you're a mighty blizzard. But also, you know the true meaning behind the little riddle I chose to describe the role of the Guardian of Snow." 

"True meaning?" I asked. "Oh! About talking it out and convincing your enemies to join you instead of fighting?" 

"Exactly." Alice smiled. "Kenzie-chan, I deem you worthy of my inheritance. Best of luck as the tenth generation G--"

"Wait!" I quickly said. 

"What is it?" 

"Okay, so this little dummy over here--" I said as I put Gokudera in a headlock. "Thinks that I'm your reincarnate and Tsuna is Primo's reincarnate, and because you two are married, Tsuna and I are supposed to be married. But that's not true, is it?" 

Alice burst out in laughter. 

"SO THAT'S WHY YOU'RE NOT TOGETHER! IT WAS SUCH A MYSTERY, I'M SO GLAD I FINALLY GOT TO KNOW!" She laughed. "But Gokudera-kun, you really are a 'little dummy'. If I was her reincarnate, how could I be here? Our 'will' is our soul. Our souls will be stored in these rings to help you whenever you need us. If my soul is here in this ring, how could it be in Kenzie-chan?" 

Gokudera smiled the brightest most brilliant smile. Then he attack hugged me. I was almost squished, but I was laughing and hugging him back at the same time. 

"I can't believe this! It's too good to be true, but it is! She's right! You were right! I'll never not listen to you ever again!" Gokudera began to cry in joy. 

"Damn right!" I giggled. Then I gave him a kiss. We were brought out of our little moment when Lila started giggling. 

"You wanna join the group hug, Lila-chan?" Gokudera asked. 

"Yeah!" Lila came and snuggled on the floor with us. 

"This is seriously the best day ever!" I giggled. 

"I couldn't agree more!" Gokudera smiled and kissed my cheek. 

The rest of the night was bliss. After Lila went to bed, Gokudera and I snuggled while talking and I fell asleep in his arms. It was the best night of my life. 

The next morning, we returned to the future. 

"We'll be back in a couple days, max, Lila-chan." I smiled and hugged her after dropping her off at Nana's. 

"Hurry home! Be safe!" Lila smiled. 

"Of course we will. You don't have to worry about us at all." Gokudera promised. 

We walked hand-in-hand to the shrine, and got some looks. But they were happy looks, especially from Kyoko and Haru. 

"Congratulation!" Kyoko exclaimed as she ran up and hugged me.

"We knew you could do it!" Haru smiled and squeezed me tight. 

"Thanks, grils." I giggled. 

"About time!" Ryohei chuckled as he noogied Gokudera. 

"Congratulations, Gokudera-kun, Kenzie-san!" Tsuna beamed. "Oh, and congratulations on the inheritance, too! Sorry we couldn't be there." 

"Thank you! And no problem." I smiled. 

"Good! Now that all the loose ends are tied, we can go back to the future, and win!" Reborn gave us a mini-pep talk before we headed back to the future. 

When we headed back, we were found pretty soon by Zakuro. We barely had any resting or training time. Squalo was luckily there will us, and he gave us the chance to escape. We hid out at a relator's where we were found by Bluebell, Kikyo, and Torikabuto. Gamma came to save Yuni, and we were able to escape to the forest to prepare for the final battle. We were all injured, but we made do with the members we had. We hadn't met the Mare Ring of Snow bearer yet. I was curious to see what kind of person he was. 

"I'll take him on alone." I said. 

"What are you talking about!? None of us can take one of them on alone!" Gokudera objected. "Not when we're all hurt like this!" 

"Gokudera-kun's right. You were almost killed when it was two against one, Kenzie-san. I don't want to take that risk again." Tsuna agreed. 

"Don't you two remember what I said when I came here? One of the reasons I got my inheritance? I'm not going to fight him, I'm going to freeze him and blind him. But I'm going to do it with words and smiles." 

"At least let one or two of us come with you." Shouichi said. 

"No. It's got to be one-on-one. That's how I did it with Lila-chan." I said. 

"Yeah, but Lila-chan's seven!" Gokudera scoffed. 

"That's not what made her nice. Bel was probably somewhere around that age when he killed his brother. He's man of the snow. And people of the snow always have hearts as pure as our element. Look at me, Lila-chan, Wendy, and Alice. We're all angels! And I'm sure this man is the exact same. I can do this. It's why I'm here, and it's my duty." 

"Not alone you're not." 

"I know I'm normally so against dong anything alone, but if he sees any of you, he'll feel threatened. And if anyone says a comment that shouldn't be said, like Gokudera-kun inevitably will, I'll lose all chances of wining him over." 

"Let her do it." Yuni said. 

"Yuni…" I smiled. 

"Why?" Tsuna asked. 

"Because I know the Real Funeral Wreath of Snow. He…. He was a part of my Giglionero Family."

"He was!?" I gasped. 

"He was. But he was so upset that nobody had a box or ring of his element. He felt like he didn't belong. Tsuki was so happy until then. When Byakuran offered him just that, he felt like Byakuran had offered him a place where he belonged." 

"Don't go." Gokudera said. "If he'll defect over a little thing like that, he can't be trusted." 

"I'm going, Gokudera-kun. Please don't fight me anymore." 

"But you'll die!" 

"Then don't let the last thing you say to me be said with raised voice." 

"Do you hear yourself? If I told you I was marching off to my death, you'd knock me out so I couldn't." 

I chuckled.

"You're probably right. And it's not because I don't trust your decisions, or your strength. It's because I don't want to risk losing you. I know I'm being hypocritical saying this, but I need you to trust me. Gokudera-kun, look at me. Do you honestly think I would run to my own death? When I have you? When I have Lila-chan? When I have my family back in the past? When I have the Vongola Family? When the future rests in my hands? Do you really think that I would do this if I wasn't 200% sure it was going to work?" 

"You're right. You wouldn't. But can you at least promise me something?" 

"Anything." 

"If he even begins to attack you, run. Run to where the rest of us are, and we'll figure it out." 

"I promise, I will." 

The next morning, the final battle began. They attacked us in all four directions, or at least they were supposed to until Zakuro and Bluebell teamed up. Tsuki came from the North, and I was ready for him. I saw him fly and waved at him, causing him to land.

"Hi! You must be Tsuki. My name is Kenzie, I'm the Vongola Guardian of Snow and a friend of Yuni's. I'm not here to fight you. I'm here to talk to you. Is that alright with you?" 

"Why would you want to talk to me? I'm your enemy." 

"Not really. Yuni told me just a little about you. You can sit down for the talk if you want." 

"I don't have time for this, I have to defeat you." 

"I'm not going to fight you, Tsuki. Please just talk to me. You're a man of the snow, are't you? We're a lot more peaceful than any other element. In fact, you could say our element is peace itself. It's the duty of the snow to be peaceful. Do you know what Byakuran's plan is?"

"He's going to create a new world." 

"By destroying this one, like he's done with all the other parallel worlds. This is the only one where we're able to stop that." 

"God brought down a flood on the people for their own good. Byakuran-sama's doing the same." 

"No. No, he's not. The ones who are doing good here are my friends and I. Gokudera-kun and I are taking care of a little girl named Lila-chan. She's got the snow attribute, like you and I do. The day I met her, I was supposed to fight her. But she ended up coming home with me and we've raised her to be a wonderful woman. I got to meet the older version of her, since we came from the past. I'm fighting so Lila-chan can have a more peaceful future. She once told me that her dream was to be a doctor. But because she's got strength, and because of the Millefiore Family, she had to give up that dream to protect her friends. In the future my friends and I are creating, Lila-chan will have the chance to be a doctor if she still wants to be. Her boyfriend in this time, Fuuta-kun, wanted to be an engineer. He's gone through some schooling for it, but he's had to use all his knowledge to build weapons for the Vongola so we could defend ourselves against you. I'm positive he would rather use it for more peaceful things than weapons. Here's a picture of them from ten years ago." 

I tossed him the picture, and managed to get a smile. 

"They won't exist in the world Byakuran is creating. None of us will." 

"I get where you're coming from. But this is where I belong. Not with the Giglionero." 

"Well, thanks to Byakuran, the vast majority of them are dead." 

"W--what?" 

"You heard me. The only members of the Giglionero to survive are you, Yuni, Gamma, Nosaru, and Tazaru. The remainder of Black Spell was killed by Byakuran after he moved Merone Base. You were there to see him kill Genkishi during choice. He did the same to the remainder of the Black Spell." 

"I knew about Genkishi, but he betrayed the Giglionero. He purposely lost to your family's Squalo so Yuni would be forced to join Byakuran."

"We can turn this around. I know how this is going to end. The funeral wreathes will all either die or be leave us in peace."

"My place is with Byakuran."

"You're not fooling me, Tsuki." I smiled. "I'm going to show you something. You can trust me. This isn't a weapon." 

I pulled out a box and a ring. Joy came out. 

"Joy. Cambio Forma." I said. Joy turned into a mirror. "Come, look into the mirror." 

Tsuki, surprisingly, looked in the mirror. 

"W--what's going on? What's happening to me?" 

What he saw in the mirror was a ten year old version of himself being choked by a snake. 

"That snake is Byakuran. The boy is your true self." I said as I walked up to him. My reflection was my ten-year-old self, smiling and happy-go-lucky. "That's what this mirror shows. After all, it's what's on the inside that counts, so that's what you now see. Tsuki, free yourself from Byakuran. Get that snake off of you. We can help." 

"What kind of trick is this?" 

"It's not a trick. It's the truth. That's your soul in there, and it's being hurt. Tsuki, have you been happy since you met Byakuran?" 

"Of course I have. I found where I'm meant to be." 

"Then why aren't you smiling?" 

"Because this is a battle! We're supposed to be fighting! What am I doing, I'm wasting time!" 

"Wait!" I pleaded. "I made a promise to someone very important to me. Please trust me. I have to give up on you if you attack me. So, please don't. Put a smile on your face and get rid of the snake that's choking all the happiness out of your life and soul. Look in the mirror and say 'I'm done with Byakuran'. Just once."

"Tsch. Fine." Tsuki turned to the mirror. "I'm done with Byakuran." 

With those few words, the boy in the mirror found it easier to breathe. 

"Is Byakuran a nice person?" 

"Of course he is! He saved me!" 

The boy in the mirror began to go blue in the face. 

"Tsuki, can't you see? Byakuran is choking the happiness out of you. The life out of you. He abandoned Genkishi, and if you don't preform, you're next. Why would you want to be with someone who thinks you're disposable and replaceable?" 

The boy in the mirror regained a healthy pink colour in his face. The snake was still crushing him though. 

"You can do it, Tsuki. Choose good. My boss, Tsuna, always fights with his brows furrowed and it seems like his hands are in prayer. He doesn't want any of this. He's fighting for peace."

"Byakuran will create a peaceful new world." 

"By killing billions in the process. The Arcobaleno are the ones who are supposed to keep balance. It's their duty. And Yuni plans to bring them back." 

"W--what?" 

"You heard me. The Arcobaleno will come back, very soon."

"But she'll die." 

"I know. She's made up her mind." 

I was standing in the mirror at the time, and the girl in the mirror started crying. 

"You're… strong…" 

"Yeah. You could say that." I smiled. "Yuni's going to sacrifice herself to fix what Byakuran broke. If that angel is not on Byakuran's side, you should know that Byakuran is evil." 

And with that, the boy took a big breath. He could finally breathe. The snake was still surrounding him, but it wasn't crushing him anymore. 

"Tsuki, you four boys will be all that's left of the Giglionero. Don't make it any less, okay? The only reason you felt you didn't belong was because of how rare the snow attribute is. It only comes to four at a time. When one dies, another is born. We just haven't discovered many of them, so rings and boxes weren't made. But everyone has different attributes. It's what makes a family a family. They can't all be the same, that would make for a very unbalanced group, not a family. They need you." 

This time, the snake got sick, and dropped off the boy. 

"There's no way. They'd never take me back. Not after everything I've done." 

"AND ATTACKING THEM MORE IS GOING TO HELP!?" I screamed, shocking Tsuki. "NO! GOING OUT THERE AND SAVING THEM IS GOING TO HELP! If they don't forgive you, they don’t forgive you! But at least go and TRYYYYYYYY!" 

Finally, the snake died, and the boy gave the girl a hug. 

"Now, we should go."

By the time we got there, Yuni, Tsuna, and Byakuran were in a big orb. 

"Tsuki!" Yuni smiled. 

"Kenzie!" Gokudera ran up and gave me a hug. "I'm so glad you're alright!" 

"You, too!" I smiled and hugged him back. 

"What're you doing here?" Gamma scoffed. Nozaru and Tazaru didn't look happy to see him, either. 

"Cut it out." I growled. "Tsuki's on your side. He was being manipulated by Byakuran."

"Manipulated? Ha! He ducked out before Byakuran even came along." 

"You're wrong. Byakuran placed something in him. I don't know what it was, but it controled his actions and thoughts. He wasn't to blame." I explained as I turned to Tsuki. "That's what that snake was. It was something inside you that you killed. It should pass out of your system soon enough now that it's dead and no longer a threat." 

"I'm impressed you found that out, Kenzie-chan." Byakuran said. 

"Don't call me that. In fact, don't talk to me at all. But if you insist on running your mouth, marshmallow-for-brains, you can apologize to Tsuki for what you did to him. The second you found out he had the snow attribute, you snatched him. He himself didn't even know. You put that thing inside him to make him wear the Mare Ring of Snow and fight for you. I wouldn't be surprised if you did that to all your followers." I brought out my box weapon. "Joy. Cambio Forma." 

"A mirror?" Tsuna asked. 

"Guys, this mirror shows you what you really are. Tsuna's reflection was him without his flames or gloves. He was smiling happily. Yuni's was actually older than she is now. She's about eighteen in the reflection, but she's smiling slightly, too. She knew what her future held. Byakuran's wasn't human. It was like a green goblin. "Why am I not surprised." 

I turned around the mirror to get a look at Gokudera's reflection. It looked just like he is now. He was smiling kindly, and almost glowing. 

"You were cute as a kid, Kenzie." Gokudera chuckled. But the cutest thing was when Gokudera's reflection bent down and gave mine a high five. 

"You're still cute." I responded, as smooth as butter. I knew now wasn't the time to make jokes, but everyone needed a morale booster. I'd taken that on as the Guardian of Snow, since half the time I'm supposed to be a white blanket of snow falling on Christmas morning to bring joy to everyone. 

Tsuna defeated Byakuran, Gamma and Yuni died, and the Arcobaleno were revived. None of this will happen in the future we just created. None of it. Gamma and Yuni will live, Tsuki will not defect to the dark side, and the Giglionero family will live in peace. Shouichi will become a wonderful engineer and help build something amazing to help everyone. Byakuran will not exist, and the Mare rings will never be used again. Balance will be restored. 

With regards to our futures, Lila-chan will become a doctor and work alongside Fuuta, the medical engineer. They're both working for the Vongola, but not as hitmen, as doctors. The happy couple gets married and has two children, one boy named Kohaku and one girl named Kari. Tsuna becomes the greatest and kindest mafia boss the Vongola has ever seen. He marries Kyoko, who became a nurse to help injured children like her brother used to be. They had one child, a boy named Yuu. Gokudera becomes his right hand man. Yamamoto became a full time hitman married to Haru, who became a kindergarten teacher due to her love of children. They, too, had one child, a girl named Rene. Ryohei became a part-time hitman, part-time boxing champ, and married Kurokawa Hana, who became a successful business woman. Lambo became a full time hitman and married I-Pin. I-pin is pregnant with her first child, but we don't know the gender yet. Chrome married Mukuro, and they had two children, twin girls called Ino and Kiki. Hibari created his intelligence agency and we rarely hear from him about mafia related matters, let alone personal life, so we literally have no clue if he's married, has kids, or what he's doing. As for me, I became a full-time hitman. I work alongside my husband, Gokudera. We have four kids. Our eldest is Armani, she's got a lightning flame. She is very interested in her ability, but has no interest in the mafia. Like her uncle Tsuna, she'll use her powers only for her family, so the kids at school who bully her little siblings will find her 'shocking'. Our second is Damon, he's got storm flames, and is just like his father, in every single way, pretty well. He wants to be a scientist researching something, and one day, we'll introduce him to Verde, with caution of course. The last thing we need is another mad scientist. Our third is Ella and she has rain flames, just like her uncle Yamamoto. Also similar to her uncle, she's a natural born hitman. Finally, we have Eiji. He's got snow flames, and is just like me. Eiji's always been creative, and he's shown me many of his stories. Whatever he decides to do in the future, we know he'll be writing on the side. Maybe he'll even make it his full-time job. Eiji inspired me to write about my life. 

Many things have happened since we returned to the past. But that's a story for another time. Stay tuned for book two!


End file.
